Environmental chemical threat Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental chemical threat - Essay Example Environmental chemical threat Methylmercury can be highly toxic to both human and animals. It is concerned hazardous since it can irritate or damage organs if ingested in amounts that can be considered to be dangerous for the human body. The main source of mercury is air emissions from power generation and other industrial and waste disposal activities, during its movement among the atmosphere , land, and water mercury undergoes a serious of complex chemical transformations. Thus methylmercury is an organic form that is derived from this transformation. As a result sea animals are readily in an environment conducive to ingesting or being exposed to methylmercury. It poses a grave environmental threat since it is not considered to be particularly harmful if ingested in low amounts, however several cases have begged to differ with this notion. Regardless of the ingestion amount found in food consumed that has toxic levels of methylmercury, it cannot be sufficiently be ruled out as a threat that without the needed a ttention could cause undue harm. Methylmercury builds up in the tissues of fish, larger and older fish tend to have the highest levels of mercury. One can gain exposure by eating fish or shellfish that has levels of methylmercury. This is important to note since as of the year 2005, the seafood consumption in America was 16.2 lbs. Some natural and synthetic chemicals in the environment can harm the human nervous system such as the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves. (Miller 243). Methylmercury is known to have caused adverse effects that later on proved to be permanent and this is within proven actual cases. To protect the population against a threat that can be so silent for a long period of time, yet so deadly is the duty of each and every environmentalist. Mercury emissions continue to rise in the environment and this can only mean that it is a growing real threat that should be dealt with accordingly. Women and children are the most vulnerable to methylmercury effects. A recent study by the National Academy of Science concluded that the population at highest risk is the children of women who consume large amounts of fish and seafood during pregnancy, and that the risk to that population is likely to be sufficient to result in an increase in the number of children who have struggle to keep up in school and who might require remedial classes or special education (EPA).Mackerel, sharks, swordfish, and tilefish have high levels of methylmercury. Thus this is a fact that every pregnant woman should be made aware of by their attending obstetrician. Developmental effects caused due to intake of methylmercury can cause cognitive development problems that would result in inadequate development of a child's brain. Methylmercury and metallic mercury vapors are more harmful than other forms, because mercury in these forms reaches the brain (ATSDR). This undoubtedly puts pregnant women at a higher risk of harming their children, and it is possible that seafood is the reason for the increasing number of children born with cognitive development problems. Exposure to high levels of metallic, inorganic or organic mercury can permanently damage the brain, kidneys and developing fetus (ATSDR). Thus the goal is not only to avoid these adverse effects , but to inform pregnant women of the potential risks involved if they ingest seafood. It is highly unlikely

Composite Role Rating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Composite Role Rating - Essay Example Measurement tools viz., rating forms, observational checklists or questionnaires are used to obtain measures (numbers) that are valid and reliable (Arreola, 2007). In the hypothetical Impact Matrix (Appendix A) that I have prepared, I have used typical activities that university teachers engage in namely, Teaching, Scholarly Activity, and Service as the 3 major roles to evaluate faculty performance. Under ‘Teaching’, the role components identified are ‘instructional delivery’, ‘instructional design’, ‘content expertise’ and ‘course management.’ In my impact matrix, students, being the target entity, will be the sole judge for instructional delivery skills. This component is best evaluated through the following list of desirable attributes of faculty teaching performance whereby â€Å"the instructor creates an intellectually stimulating environment by : demonstrating interest and enthusiasm in the student learning proce ss; demonstrating effective communication skills: writing, speaking and listening; eliciting responsible student participation; †¦being available to students outside of class time to discuss course materials; †¦and returning student work in a timely manner† (Clarke University Faculty Evaluation Manual, 2008, pp 4-5). These are qualities in a teacher that are especially needed for effective guidance of students in their academic course work; therefore, I have assigned 35% as the source impact. With an arbitrary source rating of 4, the weighted rating works out to 1.4 (as shown in Appendix A). The ratings are based on a 5-point performance scale which is: 1 (Unacceptable); 2 (Satisfactory); 3 (Good); 4 (Very Good); and 5 (Excellent). For the instructional design component, students (source impact weight, 10%); peers (15%); self (10%) all contribute the data. The weighted rating from all these sources adds up to an arbitrary value of

Flexibility development in the warehouse planning and design for Essay

Flexibility development in the warehouse planning and design for future - Essay Example Simple data warehousing (long-term storage of detailed data) may be useful for archival purposes to back up ad hoc databases from direct training or training management. However, the requirements of tomorrow's warehousing software involves the active participation of not a large amount of workers, rather a few number of man power is required along with an appropriate qualification and motivation to do the job. Such individuals would be well trained to make the software a success with ease in work. They would be active enough to participate in demand planning to anticipate market demand, supply planning to allocate the right amount of enterprise resources to meet consumer's demand and demand fulfilment to fill customer orders quickly and efficiently. This form of data is of little use for strategic training management. An analogy would be a collection of partially manufactured subassemblies and raw materials that require significant processing in order to become a final product usable by strategic training management. Because of the need to combine data across such categories as schools, time, and budget categories, the amount of disaggregated and descriptive data is likely to cause a scale problem today. By this we mean both the amount of storage space required to hold these data and the amount of time needed to combine and manipulate the data to make them useful for decision-making. This won't happen in future warehousing software. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Technology Systems would be involved in warehousing to great extent in the form of transceiver, transponder or in the form of a tag which by using throughout the supply chain, configure-to-order assemblers would closely coordinate the arrival of components for final assembly. Future warehouse management technologies would perform the function of finite scheduling and process sequencing of orders thereby managing all the constraints of the present warehousing that includes insufficient labour, physical space and value added processing. Many formerly custom-programmed features are now built into today's Warehouse Management Systems. Functionality often includes batch picking, zone selection, and velocity analysis as well as Web interface functions, E-commerce applications, inventory visibility productivity metrics, inventory cycle counting, labour management, and the ability to support multiple facilities from a single computer. The concept underlying today's Warehousing System software is to build an end-to-end, process-integrated logistics flow. In addition, there is a higher level of configurability. In the future, Warehousing Management System functionality will continue to broaden. For example, adding postponement and a visual-process modelling tool so that the warehouse management system will respond to change more easily. There will be an increasing focus on dynamic

Composite Role Rating Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Composite Role Rating - Essay Example Measurement tools viz., rating forms, observational checklists or questionnaires are used to obtain measures (numbers) that are valid and reliable (Arreola, 2007). In the hypothetical Impact Matrix (Appendix A) that I have prepared, I have used typical activities that university teachers engage in namely, Teaching, Scholarly Activity, and Service as the 3 major roles to evaluate faculty performance. Under ‘Teaching’, the role components identified are ‘instructional delivery’, ‘instructional design’, ‘content expertise’ and ‘course management.’ In my impact matrix, students, being the target entity, will be the sole judge for instructional delivery skills. This component is best evaluated through the following list of desirable attributes of faculty teaching performance whereby â€Å"the instructor creates an intellectually stimulating environment by : demonstrating interest and enthusiasm in the student learning proce ss; demonstrating effective communication skills: writing, speaking and listening; eliciting responsible student participation; †¦being available to students outside of class time to discuss course materials; †¦and returning student work in a timely manner† (Clarke University Faculty Evaluation Manual, 2008, pp 4-5). These are qualities in a teacher that are especially needed for effective guidance of students in their academic course work; therefore, I have assigned 35% as the source impact. With an arbitrary source rating of 4, the weighted rating works out to 1.4 (as shown in Appendix A). The ratings are based on a 5-point performance scale which is: 1 (Unacceptable); 2 (Satisfactory); 3 (Good); 4 (Very Good); and 5 (Excellent). For the instructional design component, students (source impact weight, 10%); peers (15%); self (10%) all contribute the data. The weighted rating from all these sources adds up to an arbitrary value of

Computer Sciences and Information Technology Research Paper

Computer Sciences and Information Technology - Research Paper Example Computer science focuses on creating new concepts around the implementation and design of computing systems. Computer science incorporates mathematical concepts of computation as well as information. Further, Clark French (1) mentioned science can be described as the systematic study of the feasibility, expression, structure, and mechanization of the methodical procedures, also known as algorithms. These serve as the foundations for the gathering, processing, representation, communication, storage, and access to relevant data, irrespective of such gathered data is encoded in bytes or bits within the computer’s memories or just transcribed in the proteins and genes structure of the Human cellular structure. The main goal of computer science is to determine the best data processing systems computers can be efficiently and effectively automated and set into motion. Clark French (44) mentions computer science creates programs that improve the computer users’ output. With th e use of accounting software, the accountant’s prior tedious pencil and paper job is reduced by simply encoding the daily transactions. The accounting software will automatically perform all the other steps in the accounting cycle. The accounting software presents a balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows as well as breakdowns of receivables, breakdowns of payable amounts, and other accounting information, with just the click of a mouse. The picture development shop can use computer software such as Adobe Photoshop to enhance the output of the camera pictures. The researcher can use the Adobe reader to read pdf files uploaded on the internet. Computer science focuses on how the computer works. The focus includes determining which computer programs will work and which computer programs should be discarded. The computer scientists study which algorithms will produce an end product that is logical, realistic, and saves the computer usage time and money. The comp uter scientists implement the best algorithms that will offer a true as well as an efficient answer to a concrete or real-life problem. The computer scientists create computer program languages such as FoxPro, database III, word, and excel, photoshop, adobe reader, to ensure the specification as well as expression of the established algorithms (Toledo 47). The computer scientists design, build, as well as evaluate current and future computer operating software that can both effectively and efficiently perform prescribed program specifications. The computer scientists implement the preferred algorithm structures to significant software application domains. Michael Huth (259) insists the computer science student creates programs that will lessen the professional’s job. The medical doctor can trust the encoded computer report of the medical transcriptionist. The architect can use AutoCAD architect software to draw the minute details of a house or building. The car driver can use the computer system of the car to determine whether step on the gas or step on the brakes. Michael Huth (213) Computer scientists enter rewarding careers in many fields. One of the fields is software engineering. Another field of specialization is system administration. Another influential field is system management. A favorite field is a research and development to help the government in its drive to improve the lives of the constituents. Some of the computer scientists work in other related areas.  

Dynamic Universe 1 Journal Essay Example for Free

Dynamic Universe 1 Journal Essay From the very beginning, the studying for the universe has been accompanied with numerous misconceptions and myths: from flat structure of the earth and earth-centered model of the universe to contemporary astrology and horoscopes. From the critical perspective, if the early explanations about the universe and our place in it could be explained due to known technological limitations of the ancients, modern astrology does not have any viable explanations. As Phil Plait argues on his website Badastronomy. com, modern astrology cannot be considered a science a priori and there are many reasons to make us support this statement. Unlike astronomy, which is based on universally developed methodologies, derived primarily from physics, chemistry, and mathematics, astronomy does not use any of them. The latter lacks even universally agreed method, as Phil Plait explains, some astrologists claim that â€Å"the moment of birth is important, others say its the month, etc†¦ but they all operate under a very broad working assumption: there is some sort of force from the heavens that influences us here on Earth. † Although during the development of the astronomy there have been various differences in theories and ideas, for instance Big Bang model, all of them were developed on the thorough scientific analysis of data and mathematical models coupled with specific methodologies. With some deviations, astrology can be compared to Sun worship practices during the ancient times. Naturally, Sun worship originated in agricultural areas due to the people’s heavy dependence of the sun light for the crop. If assessed critically, Sun worship has been a dominated religious practice. Wikipedia online encyclopedia indicates that Sun worship has been characteristic for Egyptian, Japanese and Nordic mythologies. Ancient Greeks also worshiped Helios, God of the Sun. Simultaneously, the list of solar deities provides even more evidence about the dominance of Sun worship during the early periods of ancient civilizations. Surprisingly, Smithbrad traces important connections of Sun worship and astronomical basis to the Christian religion, indicating both historical and scriptural evidence. For observers from the earth, the Sun and the Moon represent two most bright objects on the sky. However, from the critical perspective, these objects are not unique, not only by their form but also by the characteristics of their light. Practically, the story of star formation is a study in contradictions. It starts with atoms, molecules, and dust particles floating aimlessly in the dark and frigid depths of interstellar space. Out of the cold and empty expanses, gravity brings these scattered particles together to form stars. Over hundreds of millions of years, these gas and dust particles congregate into enormous clouds that can span hundreds of light-years. The two lightest elements hydrogen and helium dominate these clouds, accounting for about 92 percent and eight percent of the atoms, respectively (NASA, 2005). Dust grains account for about one percent of a clouds total mass. Astronomers call these clouds giant molecular clouds because they also contain trace amounts of molecules such as water, alcohol, ammonia, and various carbon-based organic compounds, which represent raw components of life. All in all, the clouds contain enough material to form tens of thousands of new stars. Magnetic fields and the random motions of gas molecules prevent the cloud from collapsing under its own weight. The various gas and dust particles jostle about, but eventually, enough mass congregates in one region to initiate gravitational collapse in a small portion of the cloud. Astronomers once thought that cloud collapse was usually triggered by external disturbances, such as supernova shock waves or stellar winds. Nowadays, however, most astronomers think that cloud collapse usually happens on its own, although triggering mechanisms can still play an important role (NASA,2005). Over the course of several millennia, a collapsing gas cloud fragments into tens to thousands of relatively dense, rotating clumps of gas that will ultimately form newborn stars. Emission and reflection nebulae are abundant in the universe, though not observed with the naked eye. Practically, emission nebulae, â€Å"cloud of gas and dust floating in space,† emit their own light, due to the presence of ultraviolet radiation coming from the hot star or star clusters stars (Nebulae, 2005). The very hot star emits highly energetic radiation of the invisible part of the electro-magnetic spectrum, and the emission nebula re-emits the radiation in the visible light (M42, 2005). Unlike the reflection nebulae, in the emission nebulae the atoms of the dust are energized by the radiation (ultraviolet) and start emitting (not reflecting) their own radiation as atoms fall back into lower energy states. This process of the radiation emission can be compared to the Sun, with the only deviation that the latter emits radiation and light due to the processes which occur in the Sun’s core without any impact from the outside object. Simultaneously, reflection nebulae reflect the light coming from the star or star cluster. This process can be compared to the Moon, as it also reflects the light coming from the Sun, not emitting its own radiation. From its own origin when being formulated by LemaÐ ¾tre and proved by Hubble, the Big Bang theory evidenced many contributions, objections and simplifications. The Hubble Law states that galaxies in every direction are distancing away from us with speeds proportional to their distance. The major contribution to the Big Bang theory has been made with the data obtained from satellites COBE and WMAP, and the Hubble Space Telescope. The data allowed scientists to formulate the statement that the universe has been formed 14 billion years ago in a hot, dense, event known as the â€Å"Big Bang. † Practically, what the theory of â€Å"Big Bang† provides is the explanation of nature and major characteristics of the universe. There is no edge or boundaries in the universe. The expansion of the universe is occurring at all points simultaneously. Therefore, as Richard Powell explains the most of 350 billion galaxies which contains the universe are moving away from one another. However, it does not necessarily mean that the Earth or our galaxy is moving. As it is known, galaxies are distributed not universally. The systems similar to our Solar System and the Milky Way are formed from under the gravity and thus are restrained from moving apart. However, 350 billion galaxies and 3. 5 trillion dwarf galaxies in the universe are collected into vast sheets, clusters and superclusters of galaxies surrounding large voids. Bibliography Phil Plait. Astrology, available at http://www. badastronomy. com/bad/misc/astrology. html Accessed Oct 3, 2005 The resource is dedicated to various misconceptions in the astronomy, including numerous myths and beliefs, like astrology, pseudoscience and science portrayal in contemporary movie industry. Wikipedia Encyclopedia. â€Å"Solar Deity† available http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Solar_deity Accessed Oct 3, 2005 World Largest Open Encyclopedia, which offers explanations on various issues, including the astronomy and related subjects. Though not cited, this resource http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Big_Bang#Hubble. 27s_law_expansion became very useful for the journal preparation. Smithbrad â€Å"Sun Worship† Available http://smithbrad. nventure. com/sunworship. htm Accessed Oct 3, 2005 Resource aims to provide connections between Christian faith and practices with the Sun worship tradition as the most ancient tradition among all religions. The resource provides both scientific and scriptural evidence for its statements. â€Å"Nebulae† Available http://www. seasky. org/cosmic/sky7a05. html Accessed Oct 3, 2005 Web resource is dedicated primarily for concise and practical explanations of astronomical terms and phenomena. It offers graphic and photo illustrations to explains various issues in the astronomical science. NASA. â€Å"Imagine the Universe† Available http://imagine. gsfc. nasa. gov This resource provides information for star life cycle patterns, which was useful for conducting the journal, particularly on the questions on emission and reflection nebulae. â€Å"M42† Available http://www. seds. org/messier/m/m042. html Accessed Oct 3, 2005 The resource is a part of the Messier Catalog. It became useful for the journal discussion on reflection and emission nebulae, offering photo illustrations and discovery history of Orion Nebula, also known as M42 Richard Powell â€Å"Atlas of the Universe† Available http://anzwers. org/free/universe Accessed Oct 3, 2005 It is the most useful resource for general explanation of the Big Bang theory, providing graphical illustrations of its major concepts and problematic moments. Maps compiled by Mr. Powell has been used for journal explanations and references.

Analysis of Indias Mutual Fund Industry

Analysis of Indias Mutual Fund Industry Executive Summary The report titled â€Å"Mutual Fund† has been prepared to give an in-depth analysis of mutual fund industry in India and also a brief study of Mutual fund structure outside India. The report starts with the introduction of Mutual Fund, giving details about what Mutual Fund is all about. This has been done so to make even a layman understand what a mutual fund is. After the introduction part, there is a mention of the parties involved in mutual fund business, namely the AMC, Fund Managers, Dealers of Mutual Fund, Distributors, Investors of Mutual Fund, and the Regulators and so on. Later on, in the report, the inclusion of types of Mutual fund, gives a good knowledge of different categories of mutual fund. The categorization has been made on different measures. Almost all the measures have been included in this report. This part of report has great details of the types of mutual funds. Later part of the report contains the Mutual Fund history in India. The developments that have taken place since the start of Mutual Fund in India have been discussed in this part of the report. The history of Mutual Fund has been discussed in here under different phases. After the history part, the report discusses about the different fund performance. One of the important parts of the part is the NAV part. In this section of report, a detailed study has been done on Net Asset Value (NAV) of Mutual Fund. How the NAV is calculated, its misconception in the minds of investors, how important it is for the parties of Mutual Fund has been explained in this section of the report. Just after this section, there is a mention of Taxation in Mutual Fund. How Mutual Funds are taxed and what are the tax-free Mutual Funds available in the market has been discussed. This part has been discussed with examples, so as to make the investors understand, how they can be benefited with the buying of Mutual Funds. The different terminologies in Mutual Fund namely, SIP, SWP, ARP, AWP, etc has been discussed in this report. The last section of the report discussed about the risks involved in the mutual fund. The different methods through which the risks involved in mutual fund, has been discussed in this section. Also discussed are the advantages and disadvantages of buying a mutual fund. There has also been a comparison made between the returns that can be earned from mutual fund as compared with fixed deposit in banks, in post offices and investment in stock markets. MUTUAL FUNDS What is a Mutual Fund? A mutual fund is a vehicle to pool money from investors with a promise that the money would be invested in a particular manner, by professional managers who are expected to owner the promise. In India mutual funds are governed by the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The basic idea behind a mutual fund is that individual investors generally lack the time, the inclination or the skills to manage their own investments. Thus, mutual funds hire professional managers to manage the investment for the benefit of their investors in return for a management fee. Then Mutual Funds came as a solution to benefit investors who had little or no idea about the working of stock market but were eager to create some money out of it. It was created for the benefit of investors who were not able to understand the complicated functioning of the stock market but had money to invest in it. The basic purpose of any mutual fund is to put the money of the investors into various scrip in the stock market by creating a portfolio (a collection of various shares) and making investors understand the benefits and drawbacks of each and every scheme. The benefit to the customers is that they can invest in various stocks, can get help from professional people and that their money is being managed by professional who have clear understanding of the market. The organization that manages the investment is the Asset Management Company (AMC). Employees of the AMC who perform this role of managing investments are the fund managers. Professional Managements Main idea behind mutual fund is that individual investors lack time and technical skills to research their choice of stock and invest in them so mutual fund hire skilled professional to manage investment of investors in return of management fee. The organization which mange this mutual funds are called Asset Management Company (AMC) And employees who perform this task are called Fund Mangers SCHEMES Portfolio Management Schemes Investors have their own preference on how they want to invest their money and how much risk they want to take. Personal treatment with which an individual investor manages their investment and how much risk they want to be decided is done by professional managers is referred as Portfolio Managements Schemes (PMS). This is normally done for investment under Rs 10 lakhs. Money in trust A mutual fund manages investment of the schemes for the benefits of the investors. Every schemes has an Investment Portfolio (portfolio statement) Account of income and expenditure (revenue Account) Account of asset and liabilities (Balance Sheet) To insure fairness in investment, SEBI regulates the expenditure that can be charged to a scheme. Who are the Parties Involved? Investors Every investor according to their financial position takes risk that is called risk profile or risk appetite. So hypothesis tells that by taking risk of loosing whole or partial money it is possible that investor would gain profit out of investment. Trustees These are the people within the mutual fund organization who are responsible ensuring that investors interest in a scheme is taken care properly. Asset Management Company AMCs manages the investment portfolio of schemes. An AMCs income come from the management fee it charges for the schemes it manages. Every AMC asset under management because cost can not be reduced below some fixed level after that it becomes viable. Distributors Distributors bring investors in mutual fund and it earns commission on each investors. It is AMC decision whether to bear cost fully on distributors or partially. On financial and physical resources distributors could be: Tier 1 who have their own franchised network reaching out to the investors all across the country. Tier 2- who are generally regional players with some reach within their region. Tier3 who are small and marginal players with limited reach. Registrar An investors holding in mutual fund schemes is typically tracked by schemes Registrar and Transfer agent. Some manages it own house and some appoint it outside. Request to invest more money or to redeem money against existing investment is done by RT. Custodian/Depository The custodian maintain the securities in which the scheme invest this ensure an outgoing independent record of the investment of the schemes Schemes and units:- Investment in company is normally represented by certain number of shares People invest in a company by acquiring its share and disinvest by selling its shares. The total outstanding shares of a company multiplied by the face value of each share, Constitute the share capital of a company. Shares are represented in a company and units are represented in a mutual fund scheme. Types of schemes Mutual fund schemes can be offered with any of a range of investment objectives each corresponding to a certain point in the risk return matrix. It can be categorized based on tenor, asset, class, position philosophy geography. Open End Schemes These are the schemes which do not have the fixed maturity. The mutual fund ensures the liquidity by announcing sale and repurchases prices for the units of an open end schemes on an ongoing basis. Investors who wish to exit from an open end scheme can offer their unit to the mutual for redemption, generally called repurchase. Similarly mutual fund can sell new units to investors who want to participate in schemes generally called sale. Additionally a mutual fund can choose to provide liquidity by listing in stock exchange, in that case investor can either trade schemes or opt for above mentioned route. Closed End Schemes These are schemes which have fixed maturity Liquidity in such case is available through listing in stock market. Trade alters change in ownership but dont change in schemes unit capital. Occasionally closed end schemes provide a re purchase option to investors. Either by a specified period or after a specified period normally up to a total limit for all investors together, or limit per investors. Such repurchase would reduce the unit capital of the schemes. Asset Class Equity schemes invest in shares. Depending upon the schemes objective investment could be, Growth stock where earning growth is expected to be attractive Momentum stock that can go up and down with line market Value stock where the fund manager is of the view that current valuation in the stock market does not reflect intrinsic value Income stock that can earn high returns through dividends. Debt or income schemes GILT schemes These invest in government securities. Apart from being the most liquid schemes in the debt market, government securities are eligible for liquidity support. Bond Schemes These schemes invest in bond securities issued by the government or any other issuer. BondSchemes can help people overcome some of the barriers to private renting posed by the requirement to pay a bond to a landlord. Bondschemes are usually set up by the local authority, a voluntary organization or by the Probation Service. All BondSchemes have the same goal: to help people who could not otherwise do so to access private rented accommodation. In achieving this goal a successful scheme will be contributing to the confidence and efficiency of the private rented sector and helping to combat homelessness by assisting homeless and potentially homeless people. Features of the 8% Savings (Taxable) Bond Scheme 2003 Junk Bond Schemes Junk bond schemes in securities that are below investment grade. High yield bonds are politically correct way of referring to junk bonds. Junk bonds can be identified through the lower grades assigned by rating services (e.g., BBB instead of AAA for the highest quality bonds). Because the possibility of default is great, junk bonds are usually considered too risky for investment by the large institutional investors (mutual funds) that provide U.S. corporations with much of their investment capital. Junk bonds are often issued by smaller, newer companies. Money Market and Liquid Schemes These schemes invest in short term debt instrument. Money Markets Instruments include: Commercial papers Commercial bills Treasury bills Government securities having an unexpired maturity up to one year Call or notice money Certificate of deposit Usance bills Permitted securities under a repo / reverse repo agreement Any other like instruments as may be permitted by RBI / SEBI from time to time. Liquid/Money market schemes: These are designed for corporate and small businessmen to use for cash or treasury management. These schemes allow them to park short-term surplus funds in the money market, so that they earn some return before they find end uses. They invest in money market instruments like call money, inter-corporate deposits and commercial paper. Their returns range from 8 to 11 per cent, depending on money market conditions. Even salaried individuals can use them in the short term, since they offer better returns than savings accounts. Some funds even offer cheque-writing facilities. Risk comes from money market volatility which also creates the possibility of gain due to a sudden increase in rates. Balanced Schemes Balanced schemes invest in both equity and debt. The debt investment ensures a basic interest income. Which fund managers hope to top up with capital gains on the investment portfolio. However loses can eat into the basic interest and the income. Big advantage of these schemes is that market risk is more palatable Capital Protected Schemes It is a kind of balanced schemes, where a part of the initial issue proceeds is invested in gilts that would mature to a value equivalent to the unit capital of the schemes. Thus the investors capital is protected. Physical Asset Technically said that mutual fund can invest in any asset whether it can be real asset, precious metals, other metals (aluminium, steel) oil and commodities. In India regulatory framework does permit investment in real asset. Schemes by Position Philosophy. Sector Funds Regulator equity funds invest in a mix of equities that are spread across different sectors so they are called diversified equity funds. Sectors funds on other hands invest in a particular sector, Like energy funds. Index Funds These funds create and replicate according to the specified index such as BSE, NSE, etc. and such position can be created by two methods It can be done by maintaining an investment portfolio that replicates the composition of a chosen index. Weight is same according to the index weight. This replicating style is called the passive investing. Investment fund are called passive funds. And funds that are not passive are called managed funds. Index schemes are also called as unmanaged schemes(since they are passive) or tracker schemes(since they track index) Another is by doing research and identifying a basket of securities and derivatives whose movement is similar to that of index. Schemes that invest in such basket are called as active index funds. Enhanced Index Funds This is a managed index funds that can beat the performance of a bench mark index by at least 0.1 % but no more than the 2% if it crosses 2.5 it is called equity mutual fund. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) These are open end funds that trade on the exchange. ETF different from index funds in following respect A single NAV in case of open end and in case of ETF is traded in the market place. so its price keeps changing during day The AMC of an ETF does not offer sale and re purchase price of the units. Unique feature is that beside secondary market it also has primary market. Fixed Maturity Plans This eliminates the risk of capital loss by investing in a pre specified debt securities. When a series of FMP are issued for different maturities they are called serial funds. These funds can chose exclusively to invest in government securities and called Serial gilts, alternatively they can invest in non government securities in which case they become Serial Bond Schemes. Non government securities have risk of default (credit risk) which does not exist in case government securities. Schemes by Geography Country or region funds These invest in securities from a specified country or region. This is based on the fact that a particular country or region will show a higher growth or returns on the equity market. Offshore funds- these mobilize the money from investors for investment outside their country. The principle of time diversification has given rise to the concept of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) It refers of investing constant fund regularly generally every month. When market goes up then the money invested in that period gets translated into fewer numbers units for investors and vise versa. Thus it is clear that SIP tempers with the gain or loss from the investment SIP does not offer protection from losses. If the market turns adverse then you can lose money even in SIP. SIP ensures that your acquisition cost approximate the average NAV. Therefore this investment style is also called rupee cost averaging. Value averaging ensures that investors book profit in rising market and invest in loosing market. For e.g. for ICICI bank (Open ended equity fund), monthly: Minimum Rs. 1000 + 5 post-dated cheques for a minimum of Rs. 1000 each. Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) It is mirror image of SIP, under SWP investor would withdrawal constant amount periodically. The benefits are the same namely that through SWP the investor can temper gains though it does not prevent losses. For e.g . in case of ICICI bank (Open ended equity fund) SWP is a Minimum of Rs.500/- and Multiples thereof. Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) Investors exposure to different type of securities whether debt or equity should flow from their risk profile or appetite which the function of their financial position and personal disposition. It occurs in two situations On investment or disinvestment (here SIP and SWP is useful) On change in value of securities in market. In case of mutual funds such rebalancing can be achieved by systematically moving money between schemes. Mid-Cap Fund Mid cap funds are those mutual funds, which invest in small / medium sized companies. As there is no standard definition classifying companies as small or medium, each mutual fund has its own classification for small and medium sized companies. Generally, companies with a market capitalization of up to Rs 500 crore are classified as small. Those companies that have a market capitalization between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore are classified as medium sized. Big investors like mutual funds and Foreign Institutional Investors are increasingly investing in mid caps now a day because the price of large caps has increased substantially. Small / mid sized companies tend to be under researched thus they present an opportunity to invest in a company that is yet to be identified by the market. Such companies offer higher growth potential going forward and therefore an opportunity to benefit from higher than average valuations. But mid cap funds are very volatile and tend to fall like a pack of cards in bad times. So, caution should be exercised while investing in mid cap mutual funds. Growth Option The Scheme will not declare any dividends under this option. The income earned by the scheme will remain invested in the scheme and will be reflected in the NAV. This option is suitable for investors who are not looking for current income (but who have invested with the intention of capital appreciation). Moreover, if units under this option are held as capital asset for a period of at least one year, from the date of acquisition, unit holders should get the benefit of long term capital gains tax. Dividend Option This option is suited for investors seeking income through dividend declared by the scheme. Only unit holders opting for the dividend option will receive dividends. An investor on record for the purpose of dividend distributions is an investor who is an unit holder, as of the record date. In order to be a unit holder, an investor has to be allocated units representing receipt of clear funds by the scheme. The scheme may be at the discretion of the trustee, declare annual dividends in its dividend plan subject to availability of distributable profits. Dividends will be declared on the last business day of March. If March 31st is a non business day, the previous business day will serve as the record date. Interim dividends may be declared at the discretion of the trustee. Unit holders also have the option to reinvest their dividend at the ex-dividend NAV. The trustee, in its sole discretion, may also declare interim dividends. It should be noted that actual distribution of dividends and the frequency of distribution indicated above, are provisional and will be entirely at the discretion of the trustee and depend, inter alia on the availability of distributable surplus to the extent the entire net income and realized gains are not distributed, the same will remain invested in the scheme and be reflected in the NAV. Payout Dividend As per the regulations, the fund shall dispatch to the unit holders, the dividend proceeds within 30 days of declaration of the dividend. Dividends will be payable to those unit holders whose names appear in the register of the unit holders on the date (record date). Dividends will be paid by cheque; net of taxes may be applicable. Unit holders will also have the option of direct payment of dividend to the bank account. The cheques will be drawn in the name of the sole/first holder and will be posted to the registered address of the sole/first holder as indicated in the original application form. The fund will endeavor to dispatch the dividend cheques within 30 days of the record date. To safeguard the interest of the unit holders from loss or theft of dividend cheques, investor should provide the name of their bank, branch and account number in the application form. Dividend cheques will be sent to the unit holder after incorporating such information. Reinvest Dividend Under this sub-option, unit holders may chose to reinvest all of their dividends by way of additional units of the scheme instead of receiving dividends in cash. Such additional units by way of reinvestment of dividends will be at the applicable NAV on the next day (excluding Saturday) after the record date. The dividend so reinvested shall be constructive payment of dividend to unit holders and constructive receipt of the same amount from each unit holder for reinvestment in units. Any such investment will be made by indicating in the investors original application or by providing the fund with written notice signed by all the registered holder(s) of the units and also sent to the registrar. Revocation of any such decision also must be made in writing and signed by all the registered holder(s) of the units and also sent to the registrar. The additional units issued under the sub-option â€Å"Reinvest Dividend† under option B and held as capital asset would get benefit of long-term capital gains tax if sold after being held for one year. For this purpose one year will be computed from the date when such additional units are issued. Effect of Dividend: The NAV of the unit holders in dividend option will stand reduced by the amount of dividend declared. The NAV of the growth option will remain unaffected. Mutual fund industry in India The origin of mutual fund industry in India is with the introduction of the concept of mutual fund by UTI in the year 1963. Though the growth was slow, but it accelerated from the year 1987 when non-UTI players entered the industry. In the past decade, Indian mutual fund industry had seen a dramatic improvement, both qualities wise as well as quantity wise. Before, the monopoly of the market had seen an ending phase; the Assets under Management (AUM) were Rs. 67bn. The private sector entry to the fund family raised the AUM to Rs. 470 bn in March 1993 and till April 2004; it reached the height of 1,540 bn. Putting the AUM of the Indian Mutual Funds Industry into comparison, the total of it is less than the deposits of SBI alone, constitute less than 11% of the total deposits held by the Indian banking industry. The main reason of its poor growth is that the mutual fund industry in India is new in the country. Large sections of Indian investors are yet to be intellectuated with the concept. Hence, it is the prime responsibility of all mutual fund companies, to market the product correctly abreast of selling. The mutual fund industry can be broadly put into four phases according to the development of the sector. Each phase is briefly described as under. First Phase -1964-87 Unit Trust of India (UTI) was established on 1963 by an Act of Parliament. It was set up by the Reserve Bank of India and functioned under the Regulatory and administrative control of the Reserve Bank of India. In 1978 UTI was de-linked from the RBI and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) took over the regulatory and administrative control in place of RBI. The first scheme launched by UTI was Unit Scheme 1964. Second phase1987_1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds) Entry of non-UTI mutual funds. SBI Mutual Fund was the first followed by Canara bank Mutual Fund (Dec 87), Punjab National Bank Mutual Fund (Aug 89), Indian Bank Mutual Fund (Nov 89), Bank of India (Jun 90), Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund (Oct 92). LIC in 1989 and GIC in 1990. The end of 1993 marked Rs.47, 004 as assets under management. Third Phase- 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds) With the entry of private sector funds in 1993, a new era started in the Indian mutual fund industry, giving the Indian investors a wider choice of fund families. Also, 1993 was the year in which the first Mutual Fund Regulations came into being, under which all mutual funds, except UTI were to be registered and governed. The erstwhile Kothari Pioneer (now merged with Franklin Templeton) was the first private sector mutual fund registered in July 1993. The 1993 SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations were substituted by a more comprehensive and revised Mutual Fund Regulations in 1996. The industry now functions under the SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations 1996. The number of mutual fund houses went on increasing, with many foreign mutual funds setting up funds in India and also the industry has witnessed several mergers and acquisitions. As at the end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets of Rs. 1, 21,805 crores. The Unit Trust of India with Rs.44,541 crores of assets under management was way ahead of other mutual funds. Fourth Phase- since February 2003 This phase had bitter experience for UTI. It was bifurcated into two separate entities. One is the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India with AUM of Rs.29, 835 crores (as on January 2003). The Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India, functioning under an administrator and under the rules framed by Government of India and does not come under the purview of the Mutual Fund Regulations. The second is the UTI Mutual Fund Ltd, sponsored by SBI, PNB, BOB and LIC. It is registered with SEBI and functions under the Mutual Fund Regulations. With the bifurcation of the erstwhile UTI which had in March 2000 more than Rs.76, 000 crores of AUM and with the setting up of a UTI Mutual Fund, conforming to the SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, and with recent mergers taking place among different private sector funds, the mutual fund industry has entered its current phase of consolidation and growth. As at the end of September, 2004, there were 29 funds, which manage assets of Rs.153108 crores under 421 schemes. Performance of Mutual Funds in India Let us start the discussion of the performance of mutual funds in India from the day the concept of mutual fund took birth in India. The year was 1963. Unit Trust of India invited investors or rather to those who believed in savings, to park their money in UTI Mutual Fund. For 30 years it goaled without a single second player. Though the 1988 year saw some new mutual fund companies, but UTI remained in a monopoly position. The performance of mutual funds in India in the initial phase was not even closer to satisfactory level. People rarely understood, and of course investing was out of question. But yes, some 24 million shareholders were accustomed with guaranteed high returns by the beginning of liberalization of the industry in 1992. This good record of UTI became marketing tool for new entrants. The expectations of investors touched the sky in profitability factor. However, people were miles away from the preparedness of risks factor after the liberalization. The Assets under Management of UTI was Rs. 67bn. by the end of 1987. Let me concentrate about the performance of mutual funds in India through figures. From Rs. 67bn. the Assets Under Management rose to Rs. 470 bn. in March 1993 and the figure had a three times higher performance by April 2004. It rose as high as Rs. 1,540bn. The net asset value (NAV) of mutual funds in India declined when stock prices started falling in the year 1992. Those days, the market regulations did not allow portfolio shifts into alternative investments. There were rather no choices apart from holding the cash or to further continue investing in shares. One more thing to be noted, since only closed-end funds were floated in the market, the investors disinvested by selling at a loss in the secondary market. The performance of mutual funds in India suffered qualitatively. The 1992 stock market scandal, the losses by disinvestments and of course the lack of transparent rules in the whereabouts rocked confidence among the investors. Partly owing to a relatively weak stock market performance, mutual funds have not yet recovered, with funds trading at an average discount of 10 ­20 percent of their net asset value. The supervisory authority adopted a set of measures to create a transparent and competitive environment in mutual funds. Some of them were like relaxing investment restrictions into the market, introduction of open-ended funds, and paving the gateway for mutual funds to launch pension schemes. The measure was taken to make mutual funds the key instrument for long-term saving. The more the variety offered, the quantitative will be investors. At last to mention, as long as mutual fund companies are performing with lower risks and higher profitability within a short span of time, more and more people will be inclined to invest until and unless they are fully educated with the dos and donts of mutual funds. Drawbacks of Mutual Funds Mutual funds have their drawbacks and may not be for everyone: No Guarantees: No investment is risk free. If the entire stock market declines in value, the value of mutual fund shares will go down as well, no matter how balanced the portfolio. Investors encounter fewer risks when they invest in mutual funds than when they buy and sell stocks on their own. However, anyone who invests through a mutual fund runs the risk of losing money. Fees and commissions: All funds charge administrative fees to cover their day-to-day expenses. Some funds also charge sales commissions or loads to compensate brokers, financial consultants, or financial planners. Even if you dont use a broker or other financial adviser, you will pay a sales commission if you buy shares in a Load Fund. Taxes: During a typical year, most actively managed mutual funds sell anywhere from 20 to 70 percent of the securities in their portfolios. If your fund makes a profit on its sales, you will pay taxes on the income you receive, even if you reinvest the money you made. Management risk: When you invest in a mutual fund, you depend on the funds manager to make the right decisions regarding the fun