Hazlerigg, Bohun, Mercer and Petrella all feature in turn in this collection of eighteen short stories; police procedurals and action packed thrillers. Why did the man rob the bank? How could a man disappear in a deserted street? And sixteen more!
What stops pregnant women from falling over all the time? What makes infant cries so captivating? How do sperm swim? The Secret Science of Baby answers these questions and many more, revealing the fascinating physics behind conception, birth, and babyhood. Parents and parents-to-be are bombarded with information, from what to expect to what to do (and not to do) when it happens. But what they may not realize is that from the chemistry of pregnancy tests to the vacuum physics of breastfeeding, there is fascinating science at the heart of every aspect of creating and raising a new human. Written by science journalist Michael Banks, The Secret Science of Baby won’t tell you how to raise a perfect violin-playing, mandarin-speaking toddler, but it will shed a new light on how and why things happen as they do—from conception and pregnancy to cooing and pooing. Exploring the hidden physics behind uterine contractions, the fluid dynamics of diapers, and more, both parents and curious non-parents (who, after all, were once babies themselves) will gain a fresh perspective on the infant universe . . . and the thrilling science that makes it possible. In these pages, readers will discover: The physics of the playground and common toys—from the swing to the Slinky What it really means to "sleep like a baby" The surprising shared vocal cord features of lions and (human) infants The miracle of a baby's first breath and how surface tension provided the key to helping preemies breathe Banks draws from his own experience, interviews with scientists, and the latest research (including some involving conception inside an MRI machine) to offer a book that focuses on “how?” rather than “how-to.” The result is an illuminating and hilarious journey through the everyday science of making, baking, and bringing up baby.
I have written this book so that others can benefit from the struggle i've been through. Gotta Kidney?! was written for all the millions of people who are affected directly or indirectly by kidney disease and indeed anyone facing major life-changing challenges of any kind, whether they be medical or otherwise. I believe that people will feel encouraged and inspired by reading Gotta Kidney?! This book is not a medical journal nor does it pretend to be a work of great literature! It is the story of my journey from being diagnosed with CKD (chronic kidney disease) through kidney failure, dialysis, transplant, and into recovery. As the subtitle of the books states, it is A Journey Through Fear to Hope and Beyond. Whenever a major crisis occurs there is always fear of the unknown future. What will happen to me now? How will I survive? The unknown can be scary. So the idea of this book is to give hope and encouragement to those in these circumstances and to inspire and give comfort. You can get through these life events and come out the other end a wiser and happier person. In this accessible story you can find advice and even some light hearted humor along the way. And knowing that others have been down the road you're embarking upon, or on already, can be reassuring and even inspirational. And finally, the book includes a chapter written by Karin, my living donor. Her journey through the various barriers she faced to donating one of her kidneys demonstrates courage and generosity in the face of fear and resistance. Karin and I hope the book will encourage and inspire those considering donating a kidney, or any organ for that matter, to go ahead in the knowledge that the rewards of donation can be so great!
Learn, step-by-step, how to adopt the mindset of wealthy bankers and use their same tools for secure and time-tested strategies that multiply cash. Bankers have been keeping these secret for years. They're peaceful and calm knowing their money is accumulating on auto-pilot. Now you can generate massive amounts of passive cash today, and without having to start a side hustle or find a 2nd job. Make Bank shows you how to fast-track your finances with ironclad, reliable, and recession-proof opportunities. Boost your current savings rate over 800x on day 1 Make unheard of returns from lawsuits, artwork, and senior housing Collect high rate payments from home builders and developers Get Wall Street to pay you regardless if the market is up or down Eliminate expenses and grow your income by 30% Join passive trusts that give you tax-free income for life Snag rental properties that bring in 5x more income than most Syndicate with others and make 20% each year while wiping out taxes The economy is volatile and unpredictable. This opens doors for respected and researched opportunities most people don't know about. Immediately start living your best life and stop worrying about bills with Make Bank's strategies for income TODAY.
Originally published as a dissertation in 1993, this revised edition of Black Athletes in the Media is a sociohistorical documentation of trends in the characterization of black athletes in the news media. This study seeks to demonstrate and explain the ambiguity and dilemma of black acceptance in the American ideal with respect to black sporting achievements over the Twentieth Century. The evolution of black stereotypes, depictions and generalizations are traced and exposed in contemporary media. With respect to the media as the foremost propagator of the racial stereotype, it has the ability to shape, influence and arouse public opinion through the manipulation of controversial events. As a result, social imagination is thus enhanced by this authority and keeper of social values. The major attention given to black and ethnic athletes by the media represents and reflects a consistent pattern of racial assessments and stereotypical journalistic attitudes.
On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders is an absorbing chronicle of the inventive, individualistic, and often cantankerous individuals who set the Internet free. Michael A. Banks describes how the online population created a new culture and turned a new frontier into their vision of the future. This book will introduce you to the innovators who laid the foundation for the Internet and the World Wide Web, the man who invented online chat, and the people who invented the products all of us use online every day. Learn where, when, how and why the Internet came into being, and exactly what hundreds of thousands of people were doing online before the Web. See who was behind it all, and what inspired them.
Among more than 102,000,000 blogs, a few stand out as influential, ground-breaking, and singularly successful. These thirty bloggers, who write about everything from business trends to parenting, have been featured in Wired magazine, Popular Science, and on CNN, NPR, MSNBC, and 20/20. In one-on-one conversations with Michael A. Banks, these innovative, creative thinkers have shared their tactics, their philosophies, what drives them, how they mine for subject matter, and their personal secrets for success. Come and learn from the masters.
Mintz and Schwartz offer a fascinating tour of the corporate world. Through an intensive study of interlocking corporate directorates, they show that for the first time in American history the loan making and stock purchasing and selling powers are concentrated in the same hands: the leadership of major financial firms. Their detailed descriptions of corporate case histories include the forced ouster of Howard Hughes from TWA in the late fifties as a result of lenders' pressure; the collapse of Chrysler in the late seventies owing to banks' refusal to provide further capital infusions; and the very different "rescues" of Pan American Airlines and Braniff Airlines by bank intervention in the seventies.
District Attorney Willie Mitchell Banks is the last elected white politician in Yaloquena County, the heart of the Mississippi Delta. On the down slope of life in the town of Sunshine, Willie Mitchell is estranged from his wife and two sons, and disappointed in his career. The Delta has changed on his watch—white people still own the land and have the money, but African-Americans have almost total political power. Black Sheriff Lee Jones convinces his political ally, Willie Mitchell , to prosecute young black mother Takisha Berry for theft. Takisha's cause is taken up by an up-and-coming black preacher, who accuses the D.A. of racism and organizes a boycott against the local grocery store owned by a wealthy white farmer with close ties to the D.A. The preacher's protest march on the courthouse gets out of hand, and rioters torch the wealthy farmer's mansion in the middle of Sunshine. The arrest and prosecution of the riot leader cascades into explosive unintended consequences for the D.A., including allegations of a forbidden romance and the D.A.'s family's involvement in the town's tortured racial history. Willie Mitchell forges ahead with the prosecution in the face of attacks on his integrity and allegations of personal involvement in the case. Secret testimony is leaked relating to the unsolved death of a six-year-old black girl years earlier, and leads to a shocking and deadly conclusion in the racial cauldron that is Sunshine, Mississippi.
Throughout banking, mathematical techniques are used. Some of these are within software products or models; mathematicians use others to analyse data. The current literature on the subject is either very basic or very advanced. The Mathematics of Banking offers an intermediate guide to the various techniques used in the industry, and a consideration of how each one should be approached. Written in a practical style, it will enable readers to quickly appreciate the purpose of the techniques and, through illustrations, see how they can be applied in practice. Coverage is extensive and includes techniques such as VaR analysis, Monte Carlo simulation, extreme value theory, variance and many others. A practical review of mathematical techniques needed in banking which does not expect a high level of mathematical competence from the reader
The financial crisis has prompted a reconsideration of the taxation of financial institutions, with practice outstripping principle: France, Germany, the United Kingdom and several other European countries have now introduced some form of bank tax, and the U.S. administration has revived its own proposal for such a charge. This paper considers the structure, appropriate rate, and revenue yield of corrective taxation of financial institutions addressed to two externalities, consequent on excessive risk-taking, prominent in the crisis: those that arise when such institutions are simply allowed to collapse, and those that arise when, to avoid the harm this would cause, their creditors are bailed out. It also asks whether corrective taxation or a regulatory capital requirement is the better way to address these concerns. The results suggest a potential role for taxing bank borrowing, perhaps as an adjunct to minimum capital requirements, at marginal rates that rise quite sharply at low capital ratios (but are likely lower when the government cannot commit to its bailout policy), reaching levels higher than those of the bank taxes so far adopted or proposed.
A historical study of the Federal Music Project (FMP) investigates the paradoxical mission of employing popular musicians during the depression and "raising" musical tastes by emphasizing European classical traditions. Bindas (history, Kent State U.) reveals the obvious tensions between FMP leadership and its musicians, particularly the racial and ethnic segregation perpetuated by its policies. However, in an even-handed treatment, the project's successes in bringing music to millions of listeners is also highlighted. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Bonds issued by the government or government agencies are often used to finance bank restructuring following a systemic crisis. Many conflicting considerations affect the design of the bonds used to pay for public sector investment in bank equity or the purchase of distressed assets from banks. Some bond features can leave restructured banks facing significant risks, laying the foundation for future banking sector problems. Sovereign default makes publicly financed bank restructuring more difficult, but it is still possible to carry out if banks receive sufficient interest income to provide a margin over their cost of funds.
This book is concerned with developments in three main areas of monetary history: domestic commercial banking; monetary policy; and the UK’s international financial position. For ease of analysis the 160 years under study are arranged into three clear chronological divisons. Part 1 covers the years 1826-1913, a period in which the UK emerged as the world’s leading economic power. It was in these years that an extensive and fully-operative domestic banking system was established. Part 2 covers 1914 to 1939 – the years which marked a break in the traditional monetary arrangements of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Part 3 covers 1939-1986 when the dominance of state influence within the domestic money markets was re-established by the Second World War and the acceptance by the authorities of the obligation to ‘manage’ the economy which meant that successive postwar governments took direct responsibility for the conduct of monetary and credit policy.
Investment banks play a critically important role in channeling capital from investors to corporations. Not only do they float and distribute new corporate securities, they also assist companies in the private placement of securities, arrange mergers and acquisitions, devise specialized financing, and provide other corporate financial services. After sketching the history and evolution of investment banking, the authors describe the structure of the industry, focusing on the competitive forces at work within it today. They explore patterns of concentration and analyze the strategic and economic factors that underlie those patterns. The authors directly examine the pairing up of investment banks with their corporate clients. They show that the market is sharply segmented, with banks and corporate clients being matched in roughly rank order, the most prestigious banks with the largest, most powerful clients, and so on. Vigorous competition occurs within each segment, but much less between them. With the industry now confronting a changing regulatory environment, a growing tendency of clients to arrange their own financing, and increasing competition both from within and from commercial banks and foreign institutions, Competition in the Investment Banking Industry is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of investment banking.
Beginning this year, federal payment recipients will receive their government benefits through electronic funds transfer (EFT)-- what most of us call direct deposit. Although cost-cutting is the driving force behind the move to a virtually all-electronic federal payment system, Michael Stegman believes the initiative has a far broader potential: to bring poor Americans into the banking mainstream. In this book Stegman outlines how many families will enter the mainstream banking system through EFT '99, as the program is called. He explains in careful detail the thinking behind the shift to EFT and the implementation of the program this year. He also argues that, for maximum success, EFT '99 should be combined with a program of national Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), dedicated savings accounts for low-income people that can be used for purchasing a first home, acquiring more education or job training, or starting a small-business. Essentially, EFT '99 will bring people into the banking system, and IDAs will give them an incentive to use the system to its fullest in order to make their money work for them and their children. There are other steps that the government can take to boost EFT's ability to help public aid recipients achieve self-sufficiency. It can: add a direct deposit option to state benefits payments programs; give banks significant additional Community Reinvestment Act Credit for establishing accounts for EFT recipients; and regulate fees for cashing government benefits and voluntary accounts so that people are not charged excessively for accessing their money. This book demonstrates that — with careful planning and a relatively small investment — the government's EFT initiative can have a major payoff in real assets and improved prospects for those who have been, for far too long, on the fringes of the country's mainstream banking system. Brookings Metro Series
Eighteen previously uncollected stories about Gilbert's most popular sleuths: seven about Inspector Hazlerigg, five about solicitor Henry Montacute Bohun, three about former copper Bill Mercer, and three about Inspector Patrick Petrella.
The international financial system is not only economic, but political. Making a Killing explores the often-overlooked world of terrorist financing and the involvement of the international banking system. In order to address the threat of terrorist organizations in a post-9/11 world – and how they are funded and financed in particular – the international community has constructed a vast architecture of counterterrorist finance laws, policies, and institutions. Connecting the fields of security studies, political economy, and finance, Ian Oxnevad argues that a bank’s institutional link to a state (as a state-owned bank or a bank with strong state connections) will protect it from any enforcement action for violations of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations. In the face of states blocking such enforcement actions, these regulations prove ineffective in preventing the financing of terrorism, as the state’s self-interest supersedes its interest in preventing terrorist financing. Making a Killing seeks to assess how effective new laws and regulations have been, as well as to identify best practices for future attempts to counter the financing of terrorism.
Broad-based and inclusive financial systems significantly raise growth, alleviate poverty, and expand economic opportunity. Households, small enterprises, and the rural poor often have difficulty obtaining financial services for a multitude of reasons, including transaction costs, perceived risk, inadequate infrastructure, and information barriers. Yet many financial institutions are now making profitable inroads into underserved markets through formal banking, investment in equities, venture capital, postal banks, and microfinance. Access to Finance addresses the challenges of making financial systems more inclusive, emulating successful ventures in new markets, and utilizing technologies and government policies to support the expansion of financial access. The contributors examine many dimensions of financial access, including: • Measuring financial access • Understanding the impact of expanded access • Examining alternative institutional models • Exploring new technologies and information infrastructure • Evaluating government policies toward outreach.
Global Bank Regulation: Principles and Policies covers the global regulation of financial institutions. It integrates theories, history, and policy debates, thereby providing a strategic approach to understanding global policy principles and banking. The book features definitions of the policy principles of capital regularization, the main justifications for prudent regulation of banks, the characteristics of tools used regulate firms that operate across all time zones, and a discussion regarding the 2007-2009 financial crises and the generation of international standards of financial institution regulation. The first four chapters of the book offer justification for the strict regulation of banks and discuss the importance of financial safety. The next chapters describe in greater detail the main policy networks and standard setting bodies responsible for policy development. They also provide information about bank licensing requirements, leading jurisdictions, and bank ownership and affiliations. The last three chapters of the book present a thorough examination of bank capital regulation, which is one of the most important areas in international banking. The text aims to provide information to all economics students, as well as non-experts and experts interested in the history, policy development, and theory of international banking regulation. Defines the over-arching policy principles of capital regulation Explores main justifications for the prudent regulation of banks Discusses the 2007-2009 financial crisis and the next generation of international standards of financial institution regulation Examines tools for ensuring the adequate supervision of a firm that operates across all time zones
Although commercial banks have played an increasingly important role in providing capital to developing nations, many analysts argue that private financing poses risks both to borrowing nations and the stability of the international economic system. In response, Mr. DaCosta demonstrates that developing nations that adopt appropriate policies can gain substantially by drawing on private sources of capital. His analysis indicates that many criticisms of the role of commercial banks are unfounded and that debt problems in LDCs typically are related to inadequate reserve and external debt management policies in the borrowing countries themselves. Emphasizing that economic growth in LDCs often is constrained by balance-of-payment deficits, Mr. DaCosta shows that nations relying on private capital frequently experience higher-than-average growth rates and argues that the advantages of unconditional or untied aid generally outweigh the constraints imposed by the multilateral aid agencies. In conclusion, he outlines specific policies developing nations can adopt to reduce financial risk and, turning to the needs of the poorest of the LDCs, examines a variety of proposals aimed at increasing the flow of concessional assistance to those countries that cannot qualify for commercial bank funds.
Economic cycles are driven by financial flows, namely quantities of savings and credits, and not by high street inflation or interest rates. Their sweeping destructive powers are expressed through Global Liquidity, a $130 trillion pool of footloose cash. Global Liquidity describes the gross flows of credit and international capital feeding through the world’s banking systems and wholesale money markets. The huge jump in the volume of international financial markets since the mid-1980s has been boosted by deregulation, innovation and easy money, with financial globalisation now surpassing the peaks of integration reached before the First World War. Global Liquidity drives these markets: it is often determinant, frequently disruptive and always fast-moving. Barely one fifth of Wall Street’s huge gains over recent decades have come from earnings: rising liquidity and investors’ appetite for riskier financial assets have propelled stock prices higher. Similar experiences are shared worldwide and even in emerging markets, such as India, flat earnings have not deterred waves of foreign money and domestic mutual funds from driving-up stock prices. Now with central banks actively pursuing quantitative easing policies, industrial corporations flush with cash and rising wealth levels among emerging market investors, the liquidity theory of investment has never been more important. International spill-overs of these rapacious cross-border flows sets off capital wars and exposes the unattractive face of liquidity called ‘risk.’ As the world grows bigger, it becomes ever more volatile. From the early 1960s onwards, the world economy and its financial markets have suffered from three broad types of shocks – labour costs, oil and commodities, and global liquidity. Financial markets spin on fragile axes and the absence of liquidity often provides a warning of upcoming troubles. Global Liquidity is a much-discussed, but narrowly-researched and vaguely-defined topic. This book deeply explores the subject by clearly defining and measuring liquidity worldwide and by showing its importance for investors. The roles of central banks, shadow banking, the rise of Repo and growth of wholesale money are discussed. Additionally, covering the latest developments in China’s increasingly dominant financial economy, this book will appeal to practitioners, policy-makers, economists and academics, as well as those with a general interest in how financial markets work.
Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Economic and Social History, grade: 1,7, University of Applied Sciences Berlin, language: English, abstract: Why do we have a financial crisis today? Apparently stable and profitable companies, banks and even markets begin to struggle. Where are the roots for this development? The financial crisis of today can be tracked back to the housing bubble and to the following housing crisis in the USA. But who where the participants and what were their actions? The following chapters try to give some explanations and reasons for this. The housing bubble in the U.S and the following financial crisis had got their own reasons and drives. It is important to know these explanations and mechanisms to avoid such developments in the future. Managers and leaders should know, which reactions follow which actions. The objective of this assignment is to explain the reasons for the U.S housing bubble and the mistakes made by the participants of this development. The work on the assignment started with a mind map of questions like: who are participants of the house bubble crisis, what are the connections between these participants, and what were their actions. All findings of this assignment are mainly Internet based and complemented by literature sources regarding topics like financial crisis, housing bubble, and subprime mortgage crisis. After providing a brief overview of the advance of the housing bubble, with a look to the Asia crisis, the premises of the housing bubble are explained. Following to that the housing boom is described in more detail. Afterwards, the focus will be changed to customer loyalty. Along with that the customer value and satisfaction is very important for a long term company-customer relationship. At the end of this assignment the conclusion sums up with the genesis of the housing bubble.
Online Banking Directory Included! Do Your Banking From Your Home or Office — No More Lines or Drive-Thrus! Why waste any more time waiting in line? Find out quickly and easily how you can save time — and money — by banking online. Even if you've never been on the Web before, Banking Online For Dummies® brings you all the information and software you need to get started right away — and take real control of your money! Check Out Your Bank's Web Site Today! CD-ROM Includes: MindSpring Internet Access Internet Explorer 4.0 Netscape Communicator QuickBooks & QuickBooks Pro — A trial version of popular financial software Plus direct links to resources listed in the book! Shareware programs are fully functional, free trial versions of copyrighted programs. If you like particular programs, register with their authors for a nominal fee and receive licenses, enhanced versions, and technical support. Freeware programs are free, copyrighted games, applications, and utilities. You can copy them to as many PCs as you like — free — but they have no technical support. System Requirements: 486 or faster PC with Windows 3.1 or later, or Windows NT 4.0 or later, or 68040 or faster Macintosh with System 7.5.5 or later; 8MB RAM (16 RAM recommended); double-speed (2X) or faster CD-ROM drive; Internet connection (14,400 bps or faster modem or network-regular access charges apply.) Inside, find helpful advice on how to: Locate your bank on the Web Transfer funds, review your accounts, pay bills, and more Manage your money with many of the popular financial software packages — Managing Your Money, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Pro, Microsoft Money, and AOL BankNOW Protect your money with handy Web security tools Take care of transactions that relate specifically to your business Get the latest e-commerce and online banking news on the Web
An accessible and detailed overview of the risks posed by financial institutions Understanding Systemic Risk in Global Financial Markets offers an accessible yet detailed overview of the risks to financial stability posed by financial institutions designated as systemically important. The types of firms covered are primarily systemically important banks, non-banks, and financial market utilities such as central counterparties. Written by Aron Gottesman and Michael Leibrock, experts on the topic of systemic risk, this vital resource puts the spotlight on coherency, practitioner relevance, conceptual explanations, and practical exposition. Step by step, the authors explore the specific regulations enacted before and after the credit crisis of 2007-2009 to promote financial stability. The text also examines the criteria used by financial regulators to designate firms as systemically important. The quantitative and qualitative methods to measure the ongoing risks posed by systemically important financial institutions are surveyed. A review of the regulations that identify systemically important financial institutions The tools to use to detect early warning indications of default A review of historical systemic events their common causes Techniques to measure interconnectedness Approaches for ranking the order the institutions which pose the greatest degree of default risk to the industry Understanding Systemic Risk in Global Financial Markets offers a must-have guide to the fundamentals of systemic risk and the key critical policies that work to reduce systemic risk and promoting financial stability.
In nearly every major financial crisis of the past decade-from East Asia to Russia, Turkey, and Latin America-political interference in financial sector regulation helped make a bad situation worse. Political pressures not only weakened financial regulation, but also hindered regulators and supervisors from taking action against troubled banks. This paper investigates why, to fulfill their mandate to preserve financial sector stability, financial sector regulators and supervisors need to be independent-from the financial services industry as well as from the government-as well as accountable.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.