Abstract Nicholas Leeson was directly responsible for causing the collapse of Britain's Barings Bank by concealing $1.4 billion in losses in 1995. This paper provides an overview of the events leading up to the collapse of Barings Bank in 1995, a discussion of Nick Leeson and commodities trading and an assessment of the adequacy of internal controls at Barings Bank. An analysis of the lessons learned and steps taken to preclude recurrences of such events in the future is followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview
Barings Bank
Nick Leeson and Commodities Trading
Internal Controls at Barings Bank
Lessons Learned and Steps Taken to Preclude Recurrences
Conclusion
From the Paper "The research showed that Britain's venerable Barings Bank was driven to bankruptcy by the now-infamous Singapore-based derivatives trader, Nicholas Leeson. Although the evidence to date suggests that Leeson was in fact involved in shady deals, it appears that other factors were also involved in the bank's collapse. Leeson's superior knew, or should have known, what the trader was up to, and had been provided with advance notice concerning his activities. Furthermore, Leeson was not the only trader engaged in such activities, and the philosophy of many financial institutions of the day appeared to encourage the sorts of techniques employed by Leeson. In the final analysis, the Leeson case demonstrates what can happen when one individual is entrusted with too much power, and time will only tell if the remedial steps taken since then will preclude such recurrences in the future."
Abstract The paper explains that internal control is defined as a process that ensures effective operations with reliable financial reporting in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The paper discusses how the collapse of Baring PLC is a good example of failure of internal control. The paper describes how Nick Leeson, a trader in derivative trading, lost close to $1.7 billion in open ended derivative contracts established in the name of Baring PLC. The paper shows how a failure of internal control allowed him to run such huge losses without any checks over a period of 3 years. The paper emphasizes that poorly monitored or haphazardly developed internal controls may make the difference between the success or failure of any business.
From the Paper "The Internal Control is defined as a process that ensures effective operations with reliable financial reporting in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. An internal control system has to protect business's assets, encourage efficient operations, generate reliable accounting information and comply with company policy to make it difficult for a dishonest employee to commit fraud. [Lavery et al, 2000] estimate that U. S. businesses loose $400 billion due to fraud and theft by managers and employees each year."
A look at the roles of women in ancient times through an examination of ancient literature by Hesiod, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Homer, Virgil, and Aristotle.
Abstract This paper analyzes several pieces of ancient literature in order to shed some light on the roles that women played in ancient times and how they were viewed by society. The paper examines Hesiod's "Theogony" and "Works and Days", Sophocles' "Antigone", Aristophanes' "Lysistrata", Homer's "Odyssey", Virgil's "Aeneid" and Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics". The paper concludes that, while the heroines and major female characters in these ancient works are certainly worth examination and study, it must be remembered that they are unrealistic in the light of normal ancient life, and that in reality women were barely given any attention at all.
From the Paper "In ancient times, and in ancient Greece most of all, women were usually treated almost as less than human. Men seemed to deal with them as a necessary evil that was kept around for the sole purpose of providing sons. As F.G. Naerebout says, "Whatever else [they] may do - weaving, spinning, directing the female staff - is a pleasant extra (Naerebout 124)." Yet this was not always the case. There are cases in ancient writings where women are shown in a positive light, even cases where women are heroes. Here we shall examine separately each work in which women played a major role, either positive or negative."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the contribution and effect that Oscar Wilde made to British society. In "The Importance of Being Ernest" a satirical view is taken on the Victorian society and expectations for men. It describes how the character leads a double life in order to live up to these expectations. Social commitments, the role of the female and other typical Victorian issues are examined in this paper.
From the paper:
"Before Oscar Wilde became famous for his writing, he was famous for his tongue. In the early years of his career, Wilde was best known as an articulate and witty social gadfly. He was the fashion-whore of polite British society. He insinuated himself calculatingly into the social life of ?the beautiful people.? H!is reputation was built around an elaborately outrageous fashion sense, a shocking wit and amusing repertoire of behaviors, and his blatant self-stylings as an art critic and aesthete. Through-out his social career, Wilde alternately flaunted and denied his homosexual tendencies. They were a part of his carefully groomed artistic image, an image from which he occasionally worked to distance himself. He did get married and father two sons, and when he was finally accused of sodomy, he fought the charges as libelous. Yet the reality of his sexual orientation, and its natural at-odds-with-society status, was never far from his work. Even his most hetero-centric works, such as the romantic satire The Importance of Being Ernest, are informed by the daily social strains of his barely closeted double life. The Importance of Being Ernest is, in fact, in many ways a prophetic, though optimistic, metaphor for Wilde's life. He deals w!ith the hypocrisy and shallowness that "modern" women and "modern" social etiquette require from men. The story at once critiques the institution of marriage and the institution of ?polite society.? This play deals explicitly with the sacrifices and lies that must be committed in order to achieve acceptance in either marriage or society, and with the inevitable moment of truth when those lies are discovered."
This paper looks at the abnormalities within human behaviors in four different works of literature: Swift in 'A Modest Proposal', Anton Chekhov in 'Enemies', Frank Kafka in 'The Metamorphosis' and Wordsworth's poem: 'World is Too Much With Us'.
Abstract This paper compares the way in which these poets and writers examine the dysfunctional behavior of society. Swift attacks abortions and death of young babies to unwed Irish mothers, Chekhov is embittered about his childhood, Kafka presents a bleak picture of human nature and Wordsworth thinks that the problems of the world are too much to bare. It concludes that normality and abnormality is defined by the needs of the humans within a society and thus dependent more on the perspective than the actual morality and sociology of the act.
From the Paper "In 1729, Jonathan Swift, wrote the Modest Proposal, the greatest short satirical piece in the English language. Completely appalled at the abortions and murders of the Catholic Irish children born of unwed peasant mothers he writes this proposal that attacks the English politicians. In trying to make known such inhumane acts from desperate mothers he makes his protagonist an American, who the British consider, 'uncivilized." Through his protagonist he pens the words that shatter the emotional balance of the people who like living in conditional ignorance. He writes, "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London," he writes in a satire that became a classic of English literature, "that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout." "
Abstract This paper examines Searle's original argument against the possibility of strong Artificial Intelligence, or what he calls intrinsically intelligent AI. This argument was presented in "Minds, Brains, and Programs" which contains his original formulation of the Chinese Room example and many others. This paper explains Searle's original view (which has been slightly modified in recent years) against the possibility of strong AI. It then examines the serious shortcomings in his argument, namely his flagrant assumption that intelligence is a bio-chemical property, something that he barely mentions in his text. Holfstadter later called this view "bio-chauvinist." The writer examines what it is Searle is trying to say, where his bio-chauvinism comes into play, and what the end result is.
From the Paper "In his paper "Minds, Brains, and Programs," John R. Searle attempts to establish the impossibility of strong artificial intelligence (AI), that an "appropriately programmed computer" can have genuine mental states. The validity of strong AI implies a direct correspondence between mental states and formal processes, and as such, insists that a properly defined program is sufficient for producing understanding and intentionality in the thing instantiating that program. Searle refutes this claim, arguing that a program could not be sufficient for producing intentionality because for any program it is possible to instantiate it in something without producing mental states in the thing. In elucidating this central point, Searle derives a distinction between "intrinsic" intentionality and "derived" intentionality. He defines intrinsic intentionality as the sort present in things that clearly have mental states, such as people. Searle distinguishes this from derived intentionality, which he claims is ascribed by those with intrinsic intentionality to things that "perform the sort of functions that we perform on the basis of our intentionality," but that do not actually possess mental states or a genuine intentionality. With this distinction, Searle's claim that programs are not sufficient, or even necessary, for producing intentionality becomes a claim that mere things - namely computers for our purposes - can only have derived intentionality and never can possess intrinsic intentionality. Searle's argument, pushed by his example of the Chinese room, at first seems to raise an alarming challenge to AI proponents, but on closer examination it becomes clear that the thrust of Searle's claim relies on some highly debatable intuitions and assumptions he makes a priori. In this paper I will argue that Searle's conclusion is entirely dependent these contestable assumptions and intuitions. I will then attempt to construct what Searle's response to this objection would likely be, and I will conclude by discussing the significance of this debate with regards to AI and all of cognitive science."
Abstract The paper discusses how poet Nikki Giovanni bares her soul in her reflective poem entitled "You Are There". It shows, similarly, that Edna St. Vincent Millay also writes from her heart about her past in "What Lips My Lips have Kissed, and Where and Why" (Sonnet XLIII). The paper explores how the two women share several perspectives on the "winter" of their life, but contrast deeply regarding their past lovers. The author also explains how Giovanni and Millay both use symbolism and imagery to convey their messages, which sometimes coincide and sometimes run in opposite directions.
From the Paper "From the very first line of Millay's poem, we are well aware of what she is talking about ? kissing. Her immediate use of the pronoun "my" indicates that she is writing from her perspective, and about her perspective. (Millay, 1) Giovanni's poem's title contrasts in that sense ? her pronoun is "You". Giovanni's poem is more of an ode to one particular love, while Millay lumps her lovers together for the purpose of this poem. As Millay continues into the second line, we see another stark contrast from Giovanni's poem ? Millay declares "I have forgotten", indicating, in my opinion, that none of the past loves were significant enough to warrant a poem being written to them. (Millay, 2) Giovanni's lover, this one in particular that she is writing about, and in lines 6-7 she declares ?lovers ? certainly those / i can remember?. (Giovanni, 6-7)"
Examines population, causes of poverty, politics, urban growth, economic inequity, employment, housing, role of the government, gender issues and savings.
2,250 words (approx. 9 pages), 6 sources, 1999, $ 79.95
Abstract "Cairo, the largest city of the highly urbanized Arab world, faces most of the ills that characterize the new megacities of the so-called Third World. Despite its powerful and highly bureaucratic central government, which retains remnants of the attempt to socialize the state, Egypt is unable to provide more than a bare minimum of services for most of its people.
From the Paper "Cairo, the largest city of the highly urbanized Arab world, faces most of the ills that characterize the new megacities of the so-called Third World. Despite its powerful and highly bureaucratic central government, which retains remnants of the attempt to socialize the state, Egypt is unable to provide more than a bare minimum of services for most of its people. Low-income and very poor Cairenes are left, therefore, to work out their own strategies for coping with an oppressive, economically challenging environment. Viewed from the outside low-income Cairenes have been characterized as consumerist, spendthrift, blindly attached to rural tradition, and prone to create slums around themselves. Recent studies have shown, however, that the stereotypes inflicted on the vast majority of Cairo's people are a very poor fit. Instead this population has thrived in an ..."
Abstract "F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were two of the finest writers of this century and two of the most distinctively American voices of 20th century literature as well. Although their styles were radically different, they both used their fiction to depict their own experiences in often barely fictionalized form.
From the Paper "F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were two of the finest writers of this century and two of the most distinctively American voices of 20th century literature as well. Although their styles were radically different, they both used their fiction to depict their own experiences in often barely fictionalized form. They also used their fiction, and especially their short stories, to advance their philosophies. Ironically, although each attempted to create a voice and a fictional persona that was highly individual and unique, each came to be seen as the voice of a generation and so at least in some ways lost their individuality. This paper examines how the two writers blended life and fiction in their works.
Before beginning this discussion though, it should be noted that the pairing of these two authors, while legitimate on..."
The life and career of the Dadaist artist, focusing on the critique of his masterpieces, "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even," and "Large Glass."
5,400 words (approx. 21.6 pages), 14 sources, 2000, $ 135.95
From the Paper "Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) was one of four siblings who became artists in the period of intellectual and artistic ferment that saw out the last decades of the old century and extended beyond World War I. Duchamp's early interest was in painting and Cubism and much of his most influential work was related to Dada practice. But Duchamp was ultimately the most independent of artists--eventually becoming independent of art itself. Much of his influence derived from gestures or positions related to the nature of art, and a great deal of his fame rests on works consisting of ordinary objects altered or 'readymade.' But Duchamp's masterpiece is usually held to be the glass, metal, and paint construction entitled The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23), frequently known simply as Large Glass."
Abstract This paper discusses how the way the family interacted and worked as a collective unit towards a common goal has barely changed since the early signs of organized living and caring for kin. The Medieval families dealt with many different situations, but the backbone of their life still remains the same today. It examines how the basic peasant family lived and interacted, revolved around their environment and the standards of living at the time, as well as family interaction, neighborhoods and rivalries which owed to medieval culture after the dissolution of the caste system and serfs/serfdom. It concludes that the average nuclear family unit has kept the same basic principles and practices through the ages.
Times have changed with technology and several variables or factors may have changed slightly, but it is still parallel. Families have and always will be centered around a home, raising of children by parents to prepare them for the future and each generation's effort to improve the family status one notch higher than that of their parents?.
From the Paper "The survival of a family is largely dependent on being able to supply the basic needs (food, clothing, shelter). Although the way that these needs are supplied has changed from direct (farms, home craft) to indirect (monetary salary) sources; the concept of material environment and importance of this supply has remained the same.
?A commonplace in describing peasants is that they are bound to the ground or chained to the soil, so that is appropriate to begin a discussion of peasant families by looking at their material environment.? In the middle ages, groups of families formed villages out of their houses and fields, each village had a center of commerce and merchants, surrounded by houses and fields. Similarly today, groups of families settle around urban centers and live in surrounding suburbs."
Abstract This paper provides an in-depth examination the criminal use of guns on American streets and constitutional right to bare arms. It explores the application and defense of the Second Amendment in the 1939 Supreme Court case of the U.S. vs. Miller. The paper argues that gun control only inhabits the legal rights of the innocent to protect themselves and that it has not lowered the crime rates in the United States.
From the Paper "Every day Americans face the ever-increasing problem of violence. News reports sometimes make it seem as if the streets of America are more like a war zone than home. Teenage gang members murder each other for drug territory, and innocent victims often find themselves caught in the crossfire. However, most recent and most abhorrent, is the fact that our children are killing one another. They are killing with extreme prejudice. Our children are killing, exhibiting little or no remorse for lives they have taken. We cannot ignore the carnage our society endures as a result of criminal behavior of a minority, obviously lacking the basic moral behavior regarding human life. Nevertheless, we must not be misguided in our efforts to address the problem at hand. Since guns are the weapons of destruction in many crimes, gun control is an issue that immediately seems to surface. But to eliminate the right of citizens to own firearms is not a solution."
Abstract F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were two of the finest writers of this century and two of the most distinctively American voices of 20th century literature as well. The paper shows that although their styles were radically different, they both used their fiction to depict their own experiences in often barely fictionalized form. They also used their fiction, and especially their short stories, to advance their philosophies. The paper shows that, ironically, although each attempted to create a voice and a fictional persona that was highly individual and unique, each came to be seen as the voice of a generation and so at least in some ways lost their individuality. The paper examines how the two writers blended life and fiction in their works.
From the Paper "Both of these authors incorporated their own experiences and their own moral and ethical perspectives into their works. This statement is arguably true of all writers at least within Western traditions of literature, but some writers are better at disguising what it is in their own lives that they have included in their literary offspring. Neither Hemingway nor Fitzgerald saw the need to do this, for they believed that the kinds of lives they led could and should be held up as an example of the ways people should live. Hemingway wanted to show the world how personal and physical courage defined what a man should and must be, while Fitzgerald ? once the sort of glittering, cynical and irresponsible Jazz Age soigne that he so often wrote about ? was also (at least later in life) a moralist desperate to infuse his stories, his own life, and the life of his times with the sense that something was desperately wrong."
Tags: Jazz, Age, Zelda, Great, Gatsby, Spanish, civil, war
Abstract A book review which explains how the Gladney family, in Don DeLillo's novel "White Noise" is an extreme portrayal of the "typical American family." It discusses how DeLillo's portrait takes typical features of the American family - such as their lack of communication and their obsession with materialism - and then, through hyperbole and irony, distorts them to sometimes barely recognizable extremes.
From the Paper "The bewildered and lost American family the author depicts is a part of a bewildered society which has lost its way. It is a family lost in a world of confusion and "white noise," and, especially, in the material things of modern consumerism. God and all spiritual hope have disappeared for all intents and purposes, replaced by a faith in the products of the consumerist culture."
An examination of various polls conducted during the period starting from 1963 till 2003 to analyze how the American public assesses the political issues in the Middle East and the other Arab countries.
Abstract This paper discusses how Americans feel that the Arabs barely recognize the role of Americans in helping the Arab states. It evaluates how public opinion seems to be that Americans feel that the Arabs just want the Middle East policy to be a zero-sum game, which would mean they stop supporting Israel and this is where the Arabs are largely disadvantaged. It analyzes how the root of the conflicts is due to the fact that Arabs want the U.S to choose either them or Israel. However, the U.S. chooses to maintain a diplomatic relationship with both. It examines different polls on different countries and analyzes the results.
Outline
Egypt
Iraq
Palestine
Lebanon and Turkey
The Country that Attracts the Most Attention
Predictions about U.S. Public Opinion about the Region in the 2003-2008
From the Paper "Americans view events in the Middle East important for US foreign policy. They think that the Middle East is the most important region in the world for the interests of the US. In April 2002, Americans were asked if America was risking its position by taking part in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, 61% said yes, while only 35% said no. In May 2000 a Gallup survey asked, "How important do you think what happens in each of the following areas of the world is to the United States today?" On the Middle East, 53% majority said it was "vitally important" and another 34% said it was "important but not vital." Just 10% believed it was not important. The Middle East was the only region that a majority felt was vitally important. In comparison, 39% felt Western Europe was vitally important, 36% felt the same about Asia, and all other regions were deemed vitally important by 30% or less."
