Saturday, December 28, 2019

Widow Spiders, Genus Latrodectus

The famous black widow is just one of the venomous widow spiders living throughout the world. Bites from female widow spiders are medically significant, and may require treatment with an antivenin. Widow spiders do not attack humans unprovoked, but will bite when touched or threatened. What Do Widow Spiders Look Like? Most people will recognize widow spiders by the hourglass markings on the underside of their abdomens. The hourglass mark is not present in all Latrodectus species, however. Females take longer to reach maturity and molt more times than males, resulting in darker, shinier coloration. Males, by contrast, remain lighter and duller. Female widow spiders are larger than their male counterparts; the body of a mature female measures about one half inch in length. Female Latrodectus spiders have a spherical abdomen and long, thin legs. Widow spiders belong to the cobweb spider family. They spin irregular, sticky webs to catch insects. Like other cobweb spiders, widows possess a row of bristles on their hind legs. This comb-foot helps the widow spiders wrap her insect victims in silk. How Are Widow Spiders Classified? Kingdom - AnimaliaPhylum - ArthropodaClass - ArachnidaOrder - AraneaeFamily - TheridiidaeGenus - Latrodectus What Do Widow Spiders Eat? Widow spiders feed on insects, which they capture in their webs. When an insect touches the web, the widow spider senses the vibration and immediately rushes to capture the prey. The Widow Spider Life Cycle The widow spider life cycle begins with eggs. A female widow spider lays several hundred eggs, wraps them in a silken egg case, and suspends it from her web. She keeps watch over the eggs, and will defend them vigorously during the month of their development. During her lifetime, the female may produce up to 15 egg sacs, with as many as 900 eggs in each one. The newly hatched spiderlings are cannibals, and will quickly devour one another until only a dozen or so offspring remain. To disperse, the young spiders parachute down from the web on silken threads. They continue to molt and grow for two or three months, depending on their sex. Most females live about nine months, but the male lifespan is considerably shorter. Widow spiders, especially black widows, have earned a reputation for sexual cannibalism – the female eats the male after mating. While this does occasionally occur, it is more myth than fact. Not all males get eaten by their partners. Special Behaviors and Defenses of Widow Spiders Widow spiders do not have good eyesight. Instead, they rely on their sensitivity to vibrations to detect prey or potential threats. For this reason, its never a good idea to touch the web of a widow spider. A careless poke with a finger is likely to attract a speedy bite from the resident widow. Mature female Latrodectus spiders inject a neurotoxic venom when they bite. In prey, the venom takes affect fairly quickly; the spider holds the insect firmly until it stops moving. Once the prey is immobilized, the widow injects it with digestive enzymes that begin to liquefy the meal. Though widow spiders are not aggressive, they will bite defensively if touched. In humans, the venom causes latrodectism, a medical syndrome that requires treatment. Within a few minutes, a bite victim will feel localized pain at the site. Symptoms of a widow spider bite include sweating, rigid abdominal muscles, hypertension, and swelling of the lymph nodes. Where Do Widow Spiders Live? Widow spiders stay outdoors, for the most part. They live in crevices or recesses within rock piles, logs, embankments, or outbuildings like sheds or barns. Widow spiders live on all continents except Antarctica. Five species of Latrodectus spiders occur in the U.S.: southern black widow (L. mactans), western black widow (L. Hesperus), northern black widow (L. variolus), red widow (L. bishopi), and brown widow (L. geometricus). Worldwide, about 31 species belong to this genus. Other Names for Widow Spiders In some parts of the world, widow spiders are referred to as button spiders. Sources: Latrodectus, Tree of Life WebGenus Latrodectus, Bugguide.netBlack Widow Spider, Ohio State University Factsheet

Friday, December 20, 2019

A Brief Note On The Palestinian Conflict Of The Palestine...

One State solution Talha Ahmad March 3, 2015 Advanced English 10 Period 7 Speech III Final Draft Introduction- The one-state solution is the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict that ensures peace and equality in the long run for Israelis and Palestinians. I. The Palestine-Israel conflict is a major problem A. State Problems B. Human rights abuses i. Amnesty International - 2014 conflict report C. War i. If Americans Knew - Death Toll II. Causes A. Israeli settlements keep being built i. The Guardian- settlement numbers B. Palestinians and Israelis live in drastically different situations i. Gallup - Inequality poll results C. Failure of original solution i. Immediate breakout of on and off wars ii. Foreign influence III. The one-state solution is the answer to the Israel-Palestine conflict A. The one-state solution would raise the standard of living for Palestinians and Israelis i. Would end military conflicts and airstrikes ii. Would be a democratic state B. 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Thursday, December 12, 2019

The Drawing of Nation State Boundaries in Rwanda Essay Example For Students

The Drawing of Nation State Boundaries in Rwanda Essay These drastic events stopped economic growth and perpetuated 3rd world poverty, The European powers didnt start laying claim on Africa until the second half of the nineteenth century, when they nearly laid claim on the whole continent Because intention was so aggressive amongst the European powers, a conference was held in Berlin in 1884 to divide up Africa. The major countries that participated were Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Portugal. When the conference was in progress, a majority Of Africa was still under traditional African rule. Eventually (after 1900) the colonial powers managed to gain control of all areas Of Africa. In his article on colonialism in Rwanda, Troy Rimier States A new kind of racism was brought to Rwanda upon the arrival of Europeans in the 20th century. Colonists assumed their own superiority and valued those physically ND geographically close to themselves (Rimier 2011). Before the European powers colonized Rwanda the elite group was the Tutsis cattle herders. The majority of the colony was made up of peasant farmers, known as the Huts. In pre-colonial times, the division between Hut and Tutsis was sometimes blurred. Some Hut bought cattle and were accepted into the upper classes, while some Tutsis became poor peasants. Rwanda was first colonized and governed by Germany, but was later taken over and newly ruled why Belgium. Belgium was quick to discriminate between the Huts and Tutsis. In 1933 Belgian rulers introduced ethnic ID cards and favored the Tutsis, Later they quickly switched sides and effortlessly supported the Hut majority (Rimier 2011). Vengeful Hut elements murdered about 15,000 Tutsis between 1959 and 1962, and more than 100,000 Tutsis fled to neighboring countries (Jones 2002). This favoritism that before colonization was not really recognized or argued with was becoming an issue between the Huts and Tutsis. Little did anyone know, this new since of entitlement brought about by the Belgian government would cause massive mount of turmoil, hatred, heartbreak, and war in the years to come. After the Tut sis kings passing in 1959, Rwanda has gone through a series Of heartbreaking civil wars that eventually lead up to the genocide in 1934. According to GÂ ©radar Premier, Because Of the chaotic nature Of the genocide and the events leading up to the total number of people killed has never been systematically assessed, but most experts believe the total baas around 800,000 people. This includes about 750,000 Tutsis and approximately 50,000 politically moderate Huts who did not support the genocide. Only about 130,000 Tutsis survived the massacres Ones 20021 Rwanda today is still continuing to rebuild economically and heal as a whole, slowly but surely. It has taken this country years after the last genocide to even consider being called back on their feet. An article was written in 2010 by the New York Times on the genocides 16th anniversary, discussing Rwanda progress since all the violence. This country has certainly come farther in the past 16 years than even the most optimistic observers would have predicted. All of this development is important to recognize because it has been the overpayments express policy to deliver basic services and economic growth to its people in order to mitigate genocide ideology (Resin 2010). Five years ago, traveling anywhere in the country was bound to be a bumpy ride, if the way was even passable. Today, east-to-west and north-to-south, the road infrastructure is impressive and continues to expand. Five years ago, the country struggled to get tourists in for $375 permits to visit Rwanda mountain gorillas, Today, during high season, there are not enough $500 tickets to meet the demand. Five years a go, there were no supermarkets or Tams, and the cheapest cell phones cost 50. Today there are multiple supermarkets, over a dozen international Tams, and cell phones that cost $14 are plentiful (Resin 2010). Against this impressive backdrop, crushing poverty still affects about 40% of the population. Millions live on tiny plots of land scarcely capable of producing adequate food for families in which the average woman gives birth to six children. Its this latter issue -raging population growth that continues to perplex the policy and development wonks in Rwanda (Resin 2010). Although Rwanda has continued to grow, their decline dates back to the legacy feet by those who colonized the country. SOURCES: Jones.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Corporate Finance Financial Functions

Question: Describe about the Corporate Finance for Financial Functions. Answer: Introduction The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) holds the position of finance director and vice president of finance in an organisation. The CFO holds the leadership position in an organisation in managing and monitoring the financial functions. The main principle functions of CFO are to demonstration effective leadership skills in managing the financial operations of the organisation and balance the responsibilities of stewardship with business partnership. CFO is the prominent member of board of directors, audit committee and also assists Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in decision-making process of the organisation. Besides this, CFO of an organisation also holds the responsibility of creating value for all the stakeholders by developing effective strategies for the sustainable growth (Nolop, 2012). In this context, the present report aims to demonstrate the strategic roles and responsibilities of Huon Aquaculture CFO. The impact of the CFO roles on ultimate objectives of the company is also demo nstrated in the report. The report also incorporates a section examining the efficient-market hypothesis effect on creation a portfolio by pension fund manager. Part A General areas of responsibility of CFO of Huon Aquaculture Huon Aquaculture is an Australian based company established in the year 1986 by Peter and France Bender. The company presently holds a market leader position in Australia as a producer of Salmon. The company has attained good brand image all over the world with providing high quality products through implementing innovative methods. The company since its establishment has attained a market leader position in aquaculture both at domestic as well as international level. Thomas Haselgrove, is the CFO and company secretary of Huon Aquaculture. He posses over 20 years experience in auditing, statutory accounting and commerce. He is responsible for developing financial strategy of the company through developing innovative ways of raising the capital. The CFO of the company also posses the responsibility of ensure effective compliance with all the AASB principles in developing the financial statements of the company (SENIOR MANAGEMENT, 2014). In regard to these, the above mentioned roles an d responsibilities of companys CFO can be described as follows: Capital Management The Company strives to achieve long term profitability through adequate management of its capital structure. The maintenance of adequate capital structure is the main responsibility of company CEOs. The CFO, in this context, needs to align the financial resources with the value creating operational activities. The company incorporates the use of new technologies for increasing its production and efficiency (Wherry and Schor, 2015). The company is mainly concerned with producing its products safely and sustainably. As such, the company needs to invest largely in development of safety team for improving its product quality by the implementation of safety program. The safety program provides training to the employees for enhancing their skills and expertise for improving their overall contribution to maximise business performance. Such value creation activities need to be prioritised by CFO to ensure the proper availability of funds for carrying out business activities that are essentia l for attaining sustainability. The CFO has to maintain an appropriate balance between its growth strategies and capital structure. The CFO develops the consolidated financial statements of the corporation in accordance with International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) that integrates the financial position of all the subsidiaries of the company in a single economic entity (Huon Aquaculture Group Limited, 2016). The financial planning regarding the management of finance risk in companys different subsidiaries and controlling the financial risk is the principal function of the CFO. The annual report of the company that companys financial position is sound and stable since the appointment of Thomas Haselgrove as CFO in the year 2006. The companys market capitalisation is about 282.1M that is a result of the financial stability attained by Huon Aquaculture under the leadership of Thomas Haselgrove. The company has invested in new and innovative technologies for producing high quality and new products thereby attaining competitive advantage under the leadership skills of Thomas (Huon Aquaculture Group Limited, 2016). Thus, it can be stated that Thomas Haselgrove has adequately managed the capital structure of the company by investing in value creating activities and minimising the resource allocation is less value creating activities. Predicting and leveraging the impact of new technologies Huon aquaculture largely emphasises on implementing the use of new technologies for product development. The innovative technologies such as development of Smokehouse and Product Innovation Centre, well-boat, feed-barges, Fortress Pens are used by the company for better growth rates of Salmon (The worlds most loved salmon, 2015). The role of CFO in this regard is to assess and examine the impact of use of new technologies on revenues and business models. The implementation of these latest technologies requires huge investment that can lead to the occurrence of financial constraints in the company. Thus, it is the responsibility of CFO to allocate financial resources adequately in implementing new technologies so that appropriate funds are available for carrying out daily activities. Thus, CFO must anticipate the profitability to be achieved with the financial constraints that can occur in carrying out its regular operational activities with investing in innovative technologies (Coven ey et al., 2003). Assisting CEO in Decision-making Process CFO of the company also holds the responsibility of reporting the financial information to the senior management. The financial resources possessed by the company must be communicated properly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). CEO of the company is responsible for making critical decisions regarding the daily operational activities (Huon Aquaculture Group Limited, 2016). In this context, it is very essential that fair and reliable financial information must be communicated to the CEOs so that he can design effective strategies for improving the loopholes in performance and enhancing its future profitability (Lapovsky and McKeown-Moak, 2010). The communication of financial information to CEO is also very important to bring into the knowledge the business risk that can occur in the company hindering its future profitability and success. The CFO can provide proper insights into various type of financial risk that can occur in a company with the implementation of a particular strateg y. The CFO and CEO in co-ordination should develop and implement risk management strategy for managing risk that can occur with the adoption of a particular project for increasing the business performance (Hope, 2013). The CFO should prioritise the future capital investment strategies of the company for optimising the financial outcomes and mitigating the risk in advance. The internal risk identified with the adoption of risk management technique and thus manages accordingly the capital deployment performance of the company. The CFO must also implement proper methods for attracting financial investors for funding the major project of the company that are believed to provide high rate of return in the future period of time. The financial information communicated to CEO by the CFO will help the company to integrate its supply chain process effectively for maximising its profitability (Hommel et al., 2011). Impact of CFO roles on ultimate objectives of Huon Aquaculture Huon Aquaculture ultimate objective is to sustain its market leader position in aquaculture through incorporating latest technologies for product development. The role of CFO is very important in attaining the strategic objectives of the company (Huon Aquaculture Group Limited, 2016). The increase in the competition in external business environment is causing a shift in the role and responsibility of CFO. Traditionally, CFO of the company is only liable to manage the financial information through preparation of financial statements and maintain the capital structure. However, the role of CFO is becoming more strategically oriented for the company nowadays to meet the challenges of competitive business scenario. The role of CFO is very important in creating congruence between the strategies developed by the company and the financial resources available. CFO must ensure the strategic success of the company with adequate management of financial resources. The identified CFO roles in Huo n Aquaculture will help in establishing effective link between the strategy and market planning for creating value for all the stakeholders. The CFO roles will help in outlining the responsibilities of the boards and other executive members towards optimising the financial performance of the company (Sutcliff and Donnellan, 2006). Part B If efficient market-hypothesis is true, the pension fund manager might as well select a portfolio with a pin Efficient market-hypothesis theory states that share prices reflect all the relevant information required by the investors for investing purpose. Thus, if the market is efficient, then pension fund manager can easily select a portfolio that results in generation of maximising profit for the investors. However, this is generally not the case as share prices do not necessarily reflect all the information about the stocks. Pension fund manager holds the responsibility of creating a portfolio for its clients that provide them higher rate of return. The selection of stocks based on their market information without evaluation can increase the financial risk of the portfolio. The pension fund manager hence should diversify the risk by selecting the stocks in a portfolio that minimises the risk generation (Harder, 2010). The risk can be diversified by proper evaluation of the stock before selecting them to include in the portfolio. The evaluation should assess the market risk of a particular stock and spread the risk by creating a portfolio that includes various assets classes. This will help in decreasing the systematic risk of the portfolio and hence ensure the generation of maximum rate of return for the clients. The efficient-market hypothesis does not hold true in all the market conditions as the information about a particular stock is not equally available to all participants. The hypothesis assumes that all investors perceive the information of the share prices in relatively same manner. However, this doe snot hold true as different investors analyse the information bout a particular stock from different perspectives and hence can have varying opinions about the fair market value of that particular stock. It does not incorporate the market risk that cannot be eliminated but can only be minimis es through diversification. Thus, it is recommended to pension fund manager in the condition of efficient market to diversify the risk of portfolio for maximising the rate of return for the clients (Jones, 2007). Conclusion Thus, on the basis of the overall discussion held in the report, it can be stated that CFO role is becoming more strategically aligned with changing competitive business environment of today. Huon Aquaculture aspires to sustain is market leader position in aquaculture industry of Australia with providing best quality products through use of innovative technologies. As such, the role of CFO is very important for raising capital to support the implementation of technology projects and ensuring the achievement of its strategic objectives. The capital structure of the company must be firmly composed through maintaining a balance between debt and equity. Also, the CFO must communicate all the financial information properly to CEO for supporting the decision-making process of the company. The CFO should anticipate the financial outcomes to be attained with the introduction of a technology initiative and strategically align the result with the automate objectives of the company. The report also examines the impact of efficient-market hypothesis on creating a portfolio by pension fund manager for the clients. It has been derived from the discussion held on the same that pension fund manager need to diversify the risk of the portfolio and should not rely on the information obtained from share prices in condition of market efficiency. References Coveney, M. et al. 2003. The Strategy Gap: Leveraging Technology to Execute Winning Strategies. John Wiley Sons. Harder, S. 2010. The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Application to Stock Markets. GRIN Verlag. Hommel, U. Et al. 2011. The Strategic CFO: Creating Value in a Dynamic Market Environment. Springer Science Business Media. Hope, J. 2013. Reinventing the CFO: How Financial Managers Can Transform Their Roles And Add Greater Value. Harvard Business Press. Huon Aquaculture Group Limited. 2016. Annual Report. Jones, C. P. 2007. Investments: Analysis And Management. John Wiley Sons. Lapovsky, L. and McKeown-Moak, M. 2010. Roles and Responsibilities of the Chief Financial Officer: New Directions for Higher Education. John Wiley Sons. Nolop, B.P. 2012. The Essential CFO: A Corporate Finance Playbook. John Wiley Sons. SENIOR MANAGEMENT. 2014. [Online]. Available at: https://investors.huonaqua.com.au/investors/?page=Senior-Management Accessed on: 20 September 2016]. Sutcliff, M. and Donnellan, M. 2006. CFO Insights: Delivering High Performance. John Wiley Sons. The worlds most loved salmon. 2015. [Online]. Available at: https://investors.huonaqua.com.au/FormBuilder/_Resource/_module/y8hXOlgfx0a4WjSUgjZk7A/file/HUO-AGM-2015-Chairman_s-Address%20ASX.pdf [Accessed on: 20 September 2016]. Wherry, F. and Schor, J. B. 2015. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society. SAGE Publications.