Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Research Paper Example Another population that is showing emerging increase in PTSD is fire-fighters. More and more cases of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are coming to light, making it important for understanding of the conditions and therefore development of effective treatments. Feczer and Bjorklund (2009) define PTSD as â€Å" an anxiety disorder characterized by a triad of symptoms following exposure or trauma, including persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic stressors through flashbacks, nightmares, and/or intrusive thoughts, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma along with the numbing or general unresponsiveness; and persistent symptoms of increased arousal† (p.278). PTSD is classified as an anxiety disorder since although anxiety has many of the symptoms and signs of fear, it also lingers long after the event and the threat associated with it have passed. This is perhaps the most unique characteristic of PTSD. Vieweg et al (2006) follow the development of the definition. In 1980 the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders first described PTSD as an anxiety disorder. In a later revision in 1987 the diagnostic criteria were revised to emphasize the avoidance phenomenon and in the 1994 edition traum a was redefined. The definition of trauma is important to the understanding of how it is applied to PTSD. Grant et al (2008) define a trauma as â€Å"an event involving actual or threatened loss of life or personal integrity such that one experiences extreme fear, helplessness or horror† (p.662). The American Psychiatric Association expands the explanation of the traumatic event saying that it must involve actual or threatened death or serious injury of a threat to one’s physical being. Witnessing the actual death or threat to another’s

Jeffrey Skilling Essay Example for Free

Jeffrey Skilling Essay In 1975 Jeffrey Skilling received his B. S. from Southern Methodist University in applied science, and in 1979 received his M. B. A. from Harvard. He was hired by McKinsey Company as a consultant and in 1987 began working with Enron to help create a forward market in natural gas (wikipedia. org). Ken Lay hired Skilling in 1990 as chairman and chief executive officer of Enron Finance Corp. and in 1991 he became the Chairman of Enron Gas Services Co. Also, he was appointed CEO/managing director of Enron Capital Trade Resources. Skilling was promoted to second highest position in the company, president and chief operating officer in 1979. By pushing an aggressive investment strategy, Skilling helped Enron to become the biggest wholesaler of gas and electricity (biography. com). On February 12, 2001 he was named the new CEO of Enron, replacing Ken Lay. Later in 2001, during the energy crisis in California; Skilling resigned on August 14 and shortly after he sold off large blocks of his shares of Enron. Enron declared bankruptcy in December 2001. The Federal Bureau of Investigations indicted Skilling on 35 charges, which he pleaded not guilty on February 19, 2004(wikipedia. org). His trial began on January 30, 2006 and lasted four months. On May 25, 2006 he was found guilty on one count of conspiracy, one count of insider trading, five counts of making false statements to auditors, and twelve counts of securities fraud; and not guilty on nine counts of insider trading(wikipedia. org). October 23, 2006 Skilling was sentenced to 24 years and 4 months in a federal prison and was fined 45 million dollars. Skilling began serving his prison term on December 13, 2006 at a low security federal prison in Littleton, Colorado. His release date is scheduled for February 21, 2028 according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Lehman brothers, credit crunch and the recession

Lehman brothers, credit crunch and the recession Introduction This report will focus on the credit crunch and recession and how they have affected the business environment that firms that operate within it and how their resources were affected. A case study on Lehman Brothers Inc is also included and will analyse the strategies of the firm and how it coped. It is important to understand that the credit crunch and recession are to separate situations but can occur at the same time. A credit crunch happens when banks and other credit companies are less willing to lend money and charge high interest rates to compensate the increased risk of lending; where as the term for a recession is used when an economy experiences two consecutive quarters of negative growth. For example the total number of goods and services produced by a country (Gross Domestic Product) would have to decline on a quarter by quarter basis for six months to be deemed a recession. The Credit Crunch The term ‘credit crunch was once a term only understood and used by economists but over the past two years it has been widely used in the media and in day to day life to describe the money troubles people are experiencing. The credit crunch can be simplified as banks and other credit lending firms being more aware of the risk customers and each other pose when lending therefore placing higher interest rates on loans to cover risk or simply declining to offer loans to higher risk customers. This cautious behaviour leads to dearer credit cards and mortgages becoming very expensive, pensions and Isa rates will decline. Investors will also be less willing to part with their money as stock markets fluctuate rapidly and in some cases bankruptcy and repossession will occur. Current Credit Crunch The credit crunch we are currently experiencing started in 2007 but was caused by companies strategies that worked in the economic boom but as the boom ended and the economic climate changed companies failed to react. Before 2007 the world economies were experiencing a boom and with money flowing freely financial companies became reckless, lending money with cheap interest rates to high risk customers who invested into property. The US Recklessness In the US companies were even more reckless giving billions of dollars worth of mortgages to customers who were high risk; for example no job, income or assets to secure against. The companies justified these risky mortgages by insisting if the customers ran into trouble rising house prices would allow them to remortgage their properties. At the time this strategy worked as the central bank interest rates were low but as they rose companies still carried on with the same strategy not suited to accommodate the rise and as house prices began to fall borrowers started to default on payments sending everyone into panic. These factors alone were not the sole reason for the global credit crunch; it was the way in which the debt was sold on to investors that spread the problem global. US banks were packaging sub-prime loans (people with weak credit ratings) into mortgage backed securities (collateralised debt obligations) these were sold on to hedge funds and investment banks who decided they were a great way to generate high returns, resulting in higher bonuses and profit margins. When interest rates rose and house prices fell customers started to default on their loans, the value of these investments plummeted resulting in huge losses for banks globally. How it affected the UK UK banks and financial companies were watching how easy the US companies were making money so invested heavily to gain a piece of the high returns the US companies were reporting, the investment of choice was the sub-prime backed investments and as the US housing market crumpled and interest rates rose the returns decreased and resulted in companies writing off billions of pounds worth of debt. As the risk of these investments increased finding new investors became impossible and many UK banks were using a securitisation strategy by using the investment market to fund their mortgage business and as the investments could not be sold the banks were left with the debt, causing them to decrease lending to safe guard their finances or in some cases fall into administration or become nationalised as Northern Rock did. The result of the credit crunch meant borrowing rates increased rapidly meaning the good value mortgages people were enjoying were no longer available, financial businesses became paranoid as to whom to lend money, increasing interest rates and asking for higher deposits to secure against default on payments. Businesses in trouble The stock markets were in turmoil and dropped sharply as confidence plunged and as powerful financial companies fell to the credit crunch paranoia set in and companies tried to secure themselves against facing the same fate. This resulted in businesses being unable to run their day to day operations. In most product based companies there is a time gap between production and sales, and some credit is needed to pay for production before receiving cash from sales. Many companies relied on credit for these cash flow issues and in the economic boom overdraft facilities etc were easily accessed, but as the credit crunch set in financial companies cut down on lending leaving many companies with higher costs than income leading to cuts in production and workforce to balance their finances. As the credit crunch caused banks to be nationalised and financial firms to go bust, the rate in which banks lend to each other (libor rate) rose to its highest since 1998 way above the Bank of Englands base rate this indicated that they were concerned as to who may go bust or simply didnt have any money to lend. This tense environment increased peoples worries and loss of confidence in each other indicated how hard the credit crunch had it the financial sectors once vast resources hard. Recession The term recession is used when an economy experiences two consecutive quarters of negative growth. For example the total number of goods and services produced by a country (Gross Domestic Product) would have to decline on a quarter by quarter basis for six months to be deemed a recession. The latest recession has been blamed on the fall of the financial markets but many causes have attributed to the severe downturn of the global markets. As the credit crunch hit the world economies slowed down, and the price of raw materials increased. Within a year the price of oil soared 40%, other materials such as steel and wheat etc saw similar rises. This resulted in higher production costs for companies that use these materials and transportation, energy and the service sector also saw costs increase due to the increased cost of gas and oil. When a business develops increased costs they tend to try and overcome them by raising the cost of their product or service so their consumers incur the cost which is called cost push inflation, this is where income becomes squeezed thus reducing disposable income. They can also cover these costs by cutting down on other costs such as workforce, some companies margins could not stretch to meet the higher material costs and subsequently went out of business. For example Silverjet, all these factors affect the economic downturn and contribute to the recession. The collapse of the housing market also contributed to the decline in the world economies. In boom years confidence was high and borrowing and saving was encouraged, this meant consumer spending was at a high and became a major factor behind economic growth. Consumers were able to remortgage their home easily as their homes grew in value, which enabled more spending and construction was easily affordable and profitable as people had money to buy or build new homes. As the boom came to an abrupt end the factors are reversed, borrowing is now harder and less attractive as higher interest rates are attached thus meaning less money to spend meaning less demand, leading to economic growth to contract. With borrowing limited and spending low, house prices continue to decrease reducing the effectiveness of the policies being used to combat the economic downturn such as the monetary and expansionary fiscal policy. The loss of confidence in the financial sector as the credit crunch hit has created a sense of paranoia amongst people who have lost their confidence in the wider economy. This has stopped people investing even if they have money to do so they are keen to keep hold of it as security as they are unsure what to expect. Spending has also decreased for the same reasons consumers are cutting back on shopping etc, this causes companies to enter into price wars or to cut down on production, costs are cut to enable the company to offer the lowest price or to simply survive. Cost cutting measures usually mean job losses, this increases unemployment which limits the amount people can spend therefore meaning companies need to make me cuts; it turns into a vicious cycle that government stimulus packages try to combat. Lehman Brothers Inc. Lehman Brothers Inc operated at a wholesale level, dealing with governments, companies and other financial institutions. Its core business included buying and selling shares and fixed income assets, trading and research, investment banking, investment management and private equity. In September 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company became insolvent with finances totalling $639 billion in assets and debt worth $619 billion; it became the largest bankruptcy in history. The company employed 25,000 employees worldwide including 5,000 and was the fourth largest US financial bank at the time of the bankruptcy. It also became the biggest victim of the subprime mortgage disaster that had put the global financial sector into meltdown. History In 1844 23 year old Henry Lehman the son of a cattle merchant immigrated to the United States from Rimpar, Bavaria. He set up home in Montgomery, Alabama where he opened a dry-goods shop. In 1847, following the arrival of his brother Emanuel Lehman, the firm became H. Lehman and Bro. With the arrival of their youngest brother, Mayer Lehman, in 1850, the firm changed its name again and Lehman Brothers was founded. The brothers expanded their dry goods store into a cotton business after noticing the potential the highly valued cotton had, even accepting cotton as a payment for products within their shop. Cotton trading became a key part of their business and they eventually relocated to New York, there Lehman became a member of the Coffee Exchange and then on to the New York Stock Exchange in 1887. In 1899, it underwrote its first public offering, the preferred and common stock of the International Steam Pump Company. The company then went from strength to strength underwriting many companies and becoming a powerhouse in the financial industry, prospering through world wars, civil wars and the great depression but the US house market crash proved to be its undoing as greed and the need for higher profits led them to take the decision to invest heavily into the subprime mortgage market which led to its demise. Subprime Mortgages Subprime Mortgages are loans offered to customers who would not usually be accepted for credit due to a poor credit score. The loans often have higher interest rates due to the higher risk a company takes by lending to a subprime borrower. There are many types of subprime mortgage plans on offer, the most common is the adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) which at first charges a fixed interest rate and then switches to a floating rate plus a margin. ARMs can be misleading to subprime borrowers who jump at the chance to take out a mortgage they were previously denied. By charging lower rates at first the mortgages reined in borrowers but as their rates were reset to variable rate which were considerably higher than the rates the borrowers were previously paying and many could not offered the new payment requirements resulting in loan defaults. During the boom Lehman were trading tremendously well and decided to invest in mortgage lending by acquiring five mortgage lenders, which included subprime mortgage lenders BNC Mortgage and Aurora Loan services which specialised in Alt-A Loans. Alt-A Loans are categorised between prime and subprime loans, Alt-A borrowers have clean credit histories but have limited documentation therefore occurring a higher risk, these borrowers proved very attractive to lenders as they could charge them higher interest rates than normal prime loans but were less risky than subprime borrowers. Lehman Brothers Success Lehman Brothers acquisitions proved a success at first; record revenues from Lehmans real estate businesses enabled revenues in the capital markets unit to surge 56% from 2004 to 2006, a faster rate of growth than other businesses in investment banking or asset management. The firm securitised $146 billion of mortgages in 2006, a 10% increase from 2005. Lehman reported record profits every year from 2005 to 2007. In 2007, the firm reported net income of a record $4.2 billion on revenue of $19.3 billion. Lehman Brothers were still continuing to grow and in February 2007 stock reached a record $86.18, meaning Lehman had a market capitalisation of close to $60 billion. This masked the real problem as by the first quarter of 2007 defaults on subprime mortgages rose to a seven-year high. Investors started to have concerns that rising defaults would affect Lehmans profitability, but the firm reported record revenues and profit for its fiscal first quarter. These concerns led to Lehmans chief financial officer (CFO) insisting that the risks posed by rising home delinquencies were well contained and would have little impact on the firms earnings. He also said that he did not foresee problems in the subprime market spreading to the rest of the housing market or hurting the U.S. economy. This statement showed the company had become reckless and the prospect of higher profits and keeping investors happy became their main concern and as long as profits were good the strategy stayed the same Credit Crunch hits Five months after Lehmans Brothers chief financial officers assurances that the company would be unaffected and safe from the housing problems the companys risks seemed to be catching up with it. Lehmans stocks fell sharply as two of Bear Stearns hedge funds failed, it caused them to shut down the BNC unit and cut 2500 jobs and also shut down some of its Aurora offices but as this may have been a sign of them cutting down their mortgage portfolio they continued to pursue the mortgage market becoming the major player gaining a portfolio of mortgage backed securities four times that of shareholder equity. The risk seemed to have paid off as their stocks increased and calm returned to the market, this was the opportunity to trim down their massive portfolio and release funds to secure against any losses the mortgage market may encounter by investing in other areas, however they seemed to choose to keep hold of the bulging portfolio. Lehman Brothers leverage was a high 31 in 2007 which in tandem with its massive mortgage portfolio made it increasingly vulnerable to any change in the market. In March 2008 Bear Stearns struggles continued and confidence in Lehman was fading resulting in a drop in shares of over 40% and although they managed to increase confidence by raising $4billion dollars people were becoming increasingly worried about the size of the companys high risk portfolio. In June Lehman recorded a second quarter loss of $3billion but managed to keep confidence high by raising $6billion through investors and noticing the ticking time bomb they were sitting on boosted its liquidity pool to an estimated $45 billion, decreased gross assets by $147 billion, reduced its exposure to residential and commercial mortgages by 20%, and cut down leverage from a factor of 32 to about 25. However, these measures were perceived as being too little, too late. On August 22, 2008, shares in Lehman closed up 5% (16% for the week) on reports that the state-controlled Korea Development Bank was considering buying the bank. Most of those gains were quickly eroded as news came in that Korea Development Bank was facing difficulties pleasing regulators and attracting partners for the deal. On September 9 Lehmans shares plunged 45% to $7.79, after it was reported that the state-run South Korean firm had put talks on hold. This caused the companys hedge fund clients to pull out, while its short-term creditors cut credit lines. On September 10, Lehman announced shocking fiscal third-quarter results early that highlighted the feebleness of its financial position. The firm reported a loss of $3.9 billion, including a write-down of $5.6 billion as well as these shocking results Moodys Investor Service dealt the company another blow as it announced that it was reviewing Lehmans credit ratings, and also said that Lehman would have to sell a majority stake to a strategic partner in order to avoid a rating downgrade. These developments led to a 42% plunge in the stock on September 11. With $1 billion left in liquidised assets, Lehman was quickly running out of time. Last-ditch efforts over the weekend of September 13 between Lehman, Barclays PLC and Bank of America, aimed at working out a takeover of Lehman, were unsuccessful. On Monday September 15, Lehman declared bankruptcy, resulting in the stock plunging 93% from its previous close on September 12

Compressor Stall :: Essays Papers

Compressor Stall Gas turbine engine performance is limited by aerodynamic instabilities called rotating stall and surge. Currently there are several control strategies for enhancing the operability boundary of laboratory compressors by actively controlling rotating stall and surge. Models which capture the qualitative behavior of the aerodynamic instabilities have been found to exhibit abundant dynamic behavior and to be useful for designing control laws. Operability boundary is defined as the operating point where steady axisymmetric flow is unstable and untolerable amount of rotating stall and surge is present in the system. Operability enhancement is defined as the gap between the operability boundary for the controlled system and that for the uncontrolled system. Operability enhancement is one of the main goals for active control of rotating stall and surge. Actuator limits and system noise are found to limit the operability enhancement. We are interested in two problems: Analysis problem: given a controller with actuator limits and certain noise level, find the operability enhancement; Synthesis problem: given a set of controllers with actuator limits and certain noise level, find one that maximize the operability enhancement. It turns out that the synthesis problem is a minimax problem. We try to answer the analysis problem and the synthesis problem by nonlinear reduction using bifurcation theory and invariant manifold theory. For stall control with bleed valve actuators, we have derived analytic formulas that agree qualitatively with the experimental results on a low speed rig. We have solved the synthesis problem for the case when surge inception is close to stall inception by normal form reduction for a low order compressor model. We are also interested in extending the above control problems to general dynamical systems. We think center manifold reduction and normal form reduction are potential tools.Gas turbine engine performance is limited by aerodynamic instabilities called rotating stall and surge.

Lord of the Flies Coursework

‘The main characters in the Lord of the flies are similar to world leaders that have ruled through history’. I agree that the main characters from Lord of the flies are similar to the world leaders that have ruled through history. There are four main characters in the film ‘Lord of the Flies’ and they are Jack, Simon, Piggy and Ralph. All these characters have an individual point of view and they all have different personalities. Jack is very comparable to the world leader called Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was absolute evil, all-powerful, mad, and hated by others, bright, deeply religious and stubborn.Adolf Hitler was a leader because he was able to convince people and make them do what he wants them to do. Jack wanted to be a leader as well and after the votes when he wasn’t picked to guide the kids he persuaded Ralph that he would help him out. Jack thought he was all-powerful because everyone followed what he said. Half way through the movie Jack w as getting unwanted because people found him too bossy so he used he’s skills to convince people that he is the best leader and that he is much better than the leader that they picked which was Ralph.I think Jack wasn’t so bright but he knew how to convince people to believe him and this made him very stubborn and tough. He was very sure of him self and he was a very confident person. When the kids joined his group because they had a choice of joining Jack or Ralph they picked Jack and he turned really aggressive and killed two members of the opposite group. Jack took his anger on animals and other members from the plane crash. Piggy reminds me of Martin Luther King as he wanted to change the whole of America to make peace. Piggy wanted to change the people that argued and he was very supportive towards the leader Ralph.When Jack was a very leader Ralph wasn’t sure what to do to stop him and Piggy helped him and seemed to be very supportive and friendly. He was also very gullible and he thought he could trust Ralph by telling him a secret that people used to call him ‘Piggy’ and he never liked him. He asked Ralph not to tell anyone but Ralph told everyone about it. Piggy carried on being very nice towards Ralph. Piggy was very smart and brave just like Martin Luther King and he spoke his mind and came up with different ideas. By: Natalia Jozwiak 10EA

Communication And Interpersonal Skills

Assess your communication and interpersonal skills in relation to each interaction. For this assignment, I had to plan, be involved in and review two interactions within health and social care, one had to be one-to-one role play, and the other had to be a group role play. I am going to write a detailed description off the skills I used in the interactions, and explain my strengths and weaknesses of my interpersonal skills that I used in each interaction. One-to-one role playIn the one-to-one role play, I was always giving Student A, good eye contact. I smiled when Student A came in to the room, to ensure that I was friendly, and I was not going to be a threat towards her. When I was communicating with Student A, I made sure I was leaning forward, so that Student A could see that I was taking interest in what she was saying. Also, I made sure that I was facing Student A in a slight angle to ensure a relaxed and friendly feeling. One-to-one role play:StrengthsIn the one-to-one role pla y, I was acting professionally and I did not laugh, which I thought was good, so I did not mess up my body language and my messages were sent clearly. One thing that I liked about the task was that I remembered the types of interpersonal skills in communication and I used it in the role play without any written sheet in front of me. I think that the type of interpersonal skills I used was suitable and relevant to the situation. For example, when I was listening to Student A, I leaned forward and stayed quiet, listening and taking in what she was saying, and because it was a counselling session, where Student A spoke and I listened.I did not slouch on my chair or interrupt her when she was talking. Otherwise it would have been seen as rude or meant that I was not interested in what she was saying, which could lead to Student A getting annoyed and may not want to talk to me. Another good thing about this role play was that Student A was reflecting what I was communicating. For example , when I leaned forward and looked like I was showing interest in what Student A was saying, she looked more relaxed and started to express her problems more comfortably. But overall, out if the strengths in this role play, I do think that the interpersonal skills I used were effective and it was relevant to the health  and social care setting that I had used. One-to-one role play:WeaknessesI do think that I used an easier interpersonal skills, setting, and situation. I could have used more ‘difficult’ interpersonal skills, to make the task more challenging. For example I could have put the situation in a nursing care home, where I am looking after someone who is deaf and I have to use the British Sign Language, to make the task more challenging. I also did not use as many interpersonal skills, and I could have varied the skills I used to make sure that my role play was more interesting to watch.