Key trends in the financial services market Essay

Key trends in the financial services market - Essay Example The Harpenden Building society offers a range of financial services from primarily savings accounts and mortgages to business banking solutions.( Harpenden Building Society. 2010) This paper will examine a number of questions surrounding the performance of the Harpenden building society and some key trends in the banking and financial services market, as well as how the building society differs from traditional banks in the market, opportunities and threats facing the bank, a closer look at the success of the bank and how the society can succeed from a marketing standpoint. There are several key trends in the financial services market. One of the latest trends that is gripping the financial industry like a bruding storm is the level and impact of the global interest rate. ``As interest rates are expected to rise globally, albeit slowly, and current steep yield curves may soon flatten, such risks may materialise surrounding the performance   in the near future. At the same time, wea knesses in the banking sector still exist, especially for some segments of the European banking sector. While the effects of changes in interest rates and their structure on financial institutions differ, recent changes in asset and funding structures of banks make them generally more vulnerable to a changing interest rate environment. Currency risk exposure has also grown, and regional concentration may pose specific risks. An unravelling of carry trades will have a negative effect on some institutions.`` (OECD.2009)

Sociology unit4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Sociology unit4 - Essay Example These processes are largely intertwined and result in specific challenges to societies in general and to family life in particular, in both direct and indirect ways.† (Editors' note & Introduction†, 2008) Further it could be suggested that this list is accurate but incomplete as changing gender roles and division of labor both within and outside the family have also evolved. The wealth gap has increased in the United States over the last fifty years. The wealthy have gotten wealthier and the poor have gotten poorer. This increases the affluence of the wealthy and increases the poverty of the least affluent. Most importantly, however, it increases the differences between the lives of the very wealthy and those of the very poor. This significant wealth gap increases differentiation within American society and between classes leading to resentment and the loss of a sense of shared destiny and cooperation. Second, as a result of the demographic transition families are getting smaller. It was not uncommon at the start of the twentieth century ffor a family to have six or eight children and possibly also have grandparents living with them. Households were much larger one hundred years ago than they are today. In 2000 the average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.14. Household size refers to persons living under the same roof but not necessarily related. (US Census, 2000, Fact Sheet) That the family size is larger than the household size is evidence of a weakening of the family in terms of families living together. It also speaks to the massive increase in marital breakdown that has become a common feature of modern family life. According to divorcerate.org, â€Å"50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce, according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri.† (â€Å"Divorce Rate†) John R. Lott Jr., argues that the wider av ailability of abortion as a birth control option increased casual and pre-marital sex and single-motherhood. He argues that this was the cause of the burgeoining crime rate during the 1980s and 1990s. He arguess that, â€Å"more out-of-wedlock births, fewer adoptions than expected, and less pressure on men "to do the right thing"--led to a sharp increase in single-parent families.† (Lott, 2007) Further he asserts that this led to more children being raised in single-parent families and had no impact on the declining crime rate. â€Å"Legalizing abortion increased crime. Those born in the four years after Roe were much more likely to commit murder than those born in the four years prior.† (Lott, 2007) The increasing divorce rate and the increase in single-parent families all point to a weakening of the traditional family. References â€Å"Divorce Rate†. Www.divorcerate.org. "Editors' note & Introduction." Journal of Comparative Family Studies 39.3 (2008): 1+. Han isch, Carol. (2006). â€Å"New Intro to 'The Personal is Political'. Web. http://web.archive.org/web/20080515014413/http://scholar.alexanderstreet.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=2259. Lott, John R., Jr. (August 13, 2007). "Abortion and crime: one has an effect on the other, but it may not be the effect you think." National Review18. US Census, 2000, F

Site Directed Mutagenesis of Subtilisin

Site Directed Mutagenesis of Subtilisin Introduction Subtilisin is a monomeric protein serine protease, which is produced by Gram positive bacteria and fungi.(1) Serine proteases are a subgroup of carbonyl hydrolase. These carbonyl hydrolases can be naturally occurring or recombinant. Naturally occurring carbonyl hydrolases consists of subtilisin matalloproteases, serine carboxypeptidase and thiol proteinase. In case of recombinant carbonyl hydrolase, the sequence coding for the wild type enzyme is altered to produce a mutant either by insertion, substitution or deletion of amino acid. Proteases are a diverse class of enzymes having several biological functions and specificities. The catalytic machinery of these enzymes is attributed to subtilisin and mammalian chymotrypsin related bacterial serine protease.(2) They are responsible for cleaving peptide bonds found in proteins. The proteases play an important role in cell wall turnover and are maximally expressed in the stationary phase. Serine proteases have molecular weights ranging f rom 25,000-30,000. They are inhibited by diidopropylfluorophosphate but are resistant to EDTA ( ethylene diamaine tetra acetic acid.) (3) The amino acid sequences of several subtilisins like subtilisin Carlsberg, subtilisin BPN, and subtilisin DY are known. Subtilisin BPN is a 275 amino acid serine protease, which is secreted by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. This enzyme is industrially important and its gene has been cloned and expressed in Bacillus subtilis. This molecule has two enzyme binding sites- one of the site binds weakly to cations and the other one binds calcium with high affinity. These calcium binding sites are common characteristics of microbial proteases since they contribute towards kinetic and thermodynamic stability. Subtilisin is majorly used in industries wherein the environment contains high levels of metal chelators which remove the calcium from subtilisin , thus reducing its stability. It would be highly beneficial to create a stable subtilisin which would be independent of calcium. These mutated subtilisin enzymes will have an enhanced stability even in the presence of detergents and chaotropic ag ents. X-ray crystallographic analysis of mutants revealed that the conformational changes due to the mutations are localized, with very less distortion of the backbone structure. Thus a large increase in stability can be obtained with very minor changes in the protein structure. Mutants can be created by deletion, addition or substitution of amino acids at positions 75-83. The deletion of amino acids 75-83 has shown to eliminate the calcium binding site while still retaining its enzymatic activity. However, calcium free subtilisins are susceptible to proteolysis. This can be overcome by converting the active site serine 221 to cysteine (S221C). This allows the protein to fold without any auto-degradation by proteolysis. A recombinant DNA was created which encoded an active subtilisin protein without the ability to bind to calcium. The protein had no codons which specifies amino acids 75-83 and had certain additional stabilizing mutations at the N-terminal amino acids 1-8 or the ÃŽ ± helix amino acids 70-74 or the helix turn amino acids 84-89. Suitable host cells were transformed with an expression vector containing this DNA segment. Upon culturing the host cells the enzymatically active subtilisin mutant was expressed and recovered.(1) Fabric cleaning compositions containing subtilisin BPN mutants The ability to hydrolyze proteins can be exploited by incorporating these proteases as an additive to laundry detergents. Most of the stains on clothes are proteinaceous and these enzymes can efficiently aid in their removal. The amino acid sequence of the protease is responsible for its characteristics. The subtilisin BPN variants have modifications at 2-3 amino acid positions. This variant has an increased hydrolytic power and decreased adsorption to an insoluble substrate as compared to the original subtilisin. A decreased adsorption to the substrate results in a better cleaning performance. In subtilisin BPN, the amino acids ranging from position 199-220 form a large exterior loop on the molecule. This loop plays an important role in mediating the adsorption of enzyme to the surface bound peptide and mutations in this region will affect the adsorption. The substituting amino acids in case of a mutation are either neutral or negatively charged. The substituting amino acid for position 199 is mostly His, Ala, Cys, Pro, Glu, Asp, Gly, Asn or Gln and for position 207 is Glu or Asp. The cleaning compositions comprise of 0.001-1% of one or more enzyme variants. The enzyme variants can be used along with other conventional ingredients to produce efficient fabric laundry composition. These fabric cleaning compositions also contain various zwitterionic or anionic surfactants, hydrotopes, dyes or pigments, primary or secondary alcohols, chelating agents and brighteners. Fermentation: The Bacillus subtilis cells having the subtilisin mutant are allowed to grow till mid log phase in LB glucose broth and is then inoculated into a fermentor. The cells are grown overnight at 37ËÅ ¡C. Chloramphenicol is added for the antibiotic selection of mutagenized plasmid. The cells are removed from the broth by centrifugation The enzyme is purified by affinity adsorption or cation exchange chromatography. The active enzyme concentration is determined by the pNA assay. ( para nitro anilide) This assay measures the rate at which pNA is released as the enzyme hydrolyses the substrate. The rate at which the yellow colour is produced is measured at 410nm with the help of a spectrophotometer and is directly proportional to the enzyme concentration. The total protein concentration can also be estimated by determining the absorbance at 280nm. (4) Production of subtilisin variants Techniques used in microbiology, molecular biology, protein purification and recombinant DNA technology are all used in developing a subtilisin variant, which is a part of dish washing and fabric cleaning compositions. Cassette mutagenesis method for production of protease variants The gene encoding the protease is sequenced The sequence is screened for a point at which desired mutation can be made The sequences flanking this region are checked for the presence of restriction enzyme site so as to replace a short segment of the gene with an oligonucleotide which will then encode various mutants. The gene is mutated by primer extension The oligonucleotides are synthesized to have the same restriction sites, eliminating the need for synthetic linkers to create the restriction site. The genes coding for serine proteases of B.amyloliquefaciens, B.subtilis and B.licheniformis can be used as targets for mutagenesis. The gene can be inserted into a suitable vector and introduced into a host strain ( Bacillus PB92) for expression and production of mutant proteases. These mutations / substitutions enhance the performance and stability of subtilisin in detergent compositions. These serine proteases can be used in the form of granules and liquid composition both in laundry dishwashing and cosmetic applications. These enzymes are often in the form of encapsulated particles in order to protect it from the other components. Encapsulation also improves the enzyme performance and helps in regulating its availability. The encapsulating material can be derived from carbohydrates, silicates, polyvinyl alcohol, borates, PEG or paraffin waxes. Fabric cleaning performance by Blood Milk Ink microswatch assay. (BWI) This assay is performed on a microtitre plate. Samples of the subtilisin variants and reference subtilisin are obtained from filtered culture broths. 10ul samples of the enzyme are added to the BWI swatch plate along with 90ul of working detergent solution. The plates are incubated for 30 minutes. 100ul of the supernatant is transferred into a new microtiter plate and its absorbance is measured. Control wells contain the detergent solution without the protease sample. The measurement at 450nm tracks pigment removal and at 600nm tracks turbidity and cleaning. The performance index (PI) of the variant is calculated. PI compares the performance of variant and reference enzyme at the same protein concentration. PI>1 the variant is better than the wild type. PI=1 variant and standard have the same performance PI

A Comparison of Hamlet’s Gertrude and Ophelia Essay -- William Shakes

A Comparison of Hamlet’s Gertrude and Ophelia      Ã‚  Ã‚   Queen Gertrude and Ophelia, the main female characters in Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedy Hamlet, have a variety of personal qualities and experiences in common. This essay, with the help of literary critics, will explore this commonality. In the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Hamlet, David Bevington enlightens the reader regarding the similarities between Gertrude and Ophelia as the hero sees them: Yet to Hamlet, Ophelia is no better than another Gertrude: both are tender of heart but submissive to the will of importunate men, and so are forced into uncharacteristic vices. Both would be other than what they are, and both receive Hamlet’s exhortations to begin repentance by abstaining from pleasure. â€Å"Get thee to a nunnery†; â€Å"Assume a virtue if you have it not.† (9) As Bevington says, both Gertrude and Ophelia are â€Å"tender of heart,† motivated by love and a desire for quiet familial harmony among the members of their courtly society in Elsinore. At the first social function in the play, Gertrude is motivated out of love for her son to advise: Dear Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailed lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. (1.2) Likewise does she ask that the prince remain with the family: â€Å"Let not thy mother lose her prayers, Hamlet, / I pray thee stay with us, go not to Wittenberg.† Later, when the hero’s supposed â€Å"madness† is the big concern, Gertrude lovingly sides with her husband in the analysis of her son’s condition: â€Å"I doubt it is no other but the main, / His father’s death and our o’erhasty marriage.† Later she confides her family... ...NJ: Hayden Book Co., Inc., 1973. Jorgensen, Paul A. â€Å"Hamlet.† William Shakespeare: the Tragedies. Boston: Twayne Publ., 1985. N. pag. http://www.freehomepages.com/hamlet/other/jorg-hamlet.html Kermode, Frank. â€Å"Hamlet.† The Riverside Shakespeare. Ed. G. Blakemore Evans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1974. Pennington, Michael. â€Å"Ophelia: Madness Her Only Safe Haven.† Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from â€Å"Hamlet†: A User’s Guide. New York: Limelight Editions, 1996. Pitt, Angela. â€Å"Women in Shakespeare’s Tragedies.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Rpt. from Shakespeare’s Women. N.p.: n.p., 1981. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html   

Life Changing Desicion Narrative Essay

Sometimes it is difficult to imagine my life decision making such a great impact with in my life while seeming so small. Any decision made in life will co-exist with some type of consequence; in which can be wonderful, terrible, or in between. Even if a decision seems minor, it may create a remarkable impact in any life. As for me, my decision was nearly clear since I was young. Art was always a passion and hobby of mine in which I have always wanted to pursue it as a livelihood. With the decision I have made, I will be able to create an occupation of art by attending Edinboro University! As a child, I have always contemplated the career I would have as an adult. The interesting careers of my thoughts as a child have dramatically changed and would completely disagree with my personality and passion today. I have debated the future career I would chase for the longest time. Finally, I made the decision to become an art teacher last year. After making that decision, I was able to decide the perfect school for the livelihood I am chasing. After applying to two schools and getting accepted to both, I believe I had to make the biggest life altering decision. Each school had great benefits but the reason for choosing Edinboro was the amazing art department and teachers. It was the most suited school for the life I was pursuing. This was probably the most stressful time of my life as well. It would be pretty difficult to turn back from this decision now. It was also a bothersome concept for me to think if I would be college material. The media and even some student make college seem like it is the most difficult time in your life. They even made it seem like each teacher you have will pile 5 hours of homework on you every day. Most make classes seem like 3 hour long lectures and classes with a teacher that will not teach you anything. In reality, the teachers are only there to help you succeed and will do what they can to help you reach your goal. Only certain classes contain plenty of home work while other classes give little to none  and classes are not long, everyday, nor are they as large as others make it seem (that is unless you go to a larger college). One thought that has always been put to the test to me and always went through my mind was if my skill was good enough for a college level. Usually I would put many of my skills down and think it could be better. Perhaps that is a good thought because it will motivate me to become better but as an artist, I need to become confident in the things I create. Throughout the semester my skills will definitely improve somewhat rapidly. When people see my creations, they are usually amazed when really; I don’t think it is good. That feeling will always be there; but I will be able to hide it more and have a little more confidence in my work. Everyone always has the concern of going somewhere brand new without knowing a single person beforehand, especially if you will be living there with no family. I was very nervous and anxious as to if people would like me and if I would make friends here. Fortunately, on the second day, I met some people that were similar to me. We have been friends since and the campus is so large, I always see new faces and make friends with new people all the time! After graduating college, I will become happy with my career and my dream of a happy life will come true. College is not as complicated as it may seem to be. It has ups and downs but I’ve made so many friends and I am learning so much. Also, I cannot wait to see how much my artistic skills improve this year. There is still a long way to go, but I believe I have made the best and biggest decision coming to Edinboro.

Voter Participation in the 1800s

Unknown 4B 14 November 2012 The 1800s were a time of tremendous change that contained many valuable occurrences. While being well adjusted to the new world the building blocks of America were still in the process of being made. Many controversies and commands were made which made elections a bit more complicated. The participation in political campaigns and elections in the United States changed between 1815 and 1840 through economic, political, and social factors that corresponds to historical events that made the differences that created the change.The conflicts that are occurring during the time of voting have a very large affect on the election. They show what the president needs to improve and how they are going to act to do so. In the 1820s it was the start of the idea of the American System, which includes promoting industry though tariffs, building road, canals, etc, and internal improvements to market agriculture. The democrats at the time opposed the system and the republic ans were all for it. We are fast becoming a great nation, with great commerce, manufactures, population, wealth, luxuries, and with the vices and miseries that they engender. † (Doc. B). This was the start of the market revolution, where everything changes from underdevelopment to a future run on technology. Immigration was a problem because it was replacing American workers with cheaper foreign workers. They didn’t have any solutions, as it was just beginning, so that would be something the president would have to work on and use in their campaign.Being the highest executive officer of a modern republic, the president is a imperative position full of demand. Andrew Jackson boosted his reputation and helped prop him to the while house through the Battle Of New Orleans. That is a fine example of how historical events can boost your eligibility for votes. Through the Era of Good Feelings, it kept Monroe and the Republican party well known. Jackson was also in office for t he Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears which was a horrible time but gained land for the people which increased Jackson’s favor. Also through Jackson, was he creation of the Whig Party, which was a big impact on the election of 1836 because it was the 2nd party compared to democratic. Van Buren was President for part of the ending of slavery which was a huge progressive state for America. These events explained what the main goals were for the presidential candidates and were the ways to gain votes. In 1828, the Democratic Party ballot only had Representatives to vote on while there weren’t very many competitors. (Doc. D). Social issues kept the public talking, were a major part of campaigning, and displayed who to vote for.In the 1824 election between Adams and Jackson, Adams was blamed for Corrupt bargain which affected his presidency through the thought of scandal. Another point that brought scandal upon election was the spoils system which gave jobs for voter s for a certain party. â€Å"We have trusted to the influence of the justice and good sense of our political leaders, to prevent the continuance of.. Abuses, which destroy the natural bands of equality so essential to the attainment of moral happiness, but they have been deaf to the choice of justice.. † (Doc. E).Voting also increased over the years through change of requirement to vote, after this time period, women could vote along with slaves. (Doc. A. ) Campaigns won over Americas heart and started in the 1840s with Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison. Harrison was thought of as an alcoholic by his competitor so Buren said that he would sit in a log cabin and drink hard cider. (Doc. I. ) Everyone had a different opinion so newspapers weren’t an official source for awhile. The more different types of newspapers the more different will the stories get stretched with candidates. Doc. G). It was all for means of convincing voters and sharing the ideas of the pr esidential candidates. Over time, the number of voters increased while the regulations decreased. Through economic, political, and social factors that fact can be explained through historical events and change. Presidents manifest themselves to prove that they can be the best leaders that they can be with hard work and tough campaigning. While split up through different parties and ideas, presidency has definitely changed throughout the decades.