The Rise and Fall of Salomon Brothers Essays

The Rise and Fall of Salomon Brothers Essays The Rise and Fall of Salomon Brothers Paper The Rise and Fall of Salomon Brothers Paper Essay Topic: O Brother Where The Rise and Fall of Salomon Brothers Treasury Bond Scandal- 1991 Executive Summary Salomon Brothers was at one time, the largest bulge bracket firm on Wall Street. Although it offered a number of financial services, it had established its name through the legacy of bond trading. Its bond trading department boasted of iconic traders of 1980’s era- John Meriwether and Myron Sholes. Salomon Brothers can be considered as the founder father of mortgaged back securities trading on the Wall Street, an area in which it was a near monopolist for a long time with not much competition from other firms. In 1981, Salomon Brothers which operated as partnership was taken over by Phibro Corporation and became known as Phibro-Salomon. With a lot of ups and downs in its fortune during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, finally in 1997, it merged with Citigroup and became their Investment Banking arm called Salomon Smith Barney. Finally the existence of the name of â€Å"Salomon† ceased when Citigroup decided to drop the name in 2003 and branded its investment bank and underwriters as Citigroup Global Markets. We chose to work on the topic â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Salomon Brothers† as this topic offers an insight into the development of a particular securities market- the Mortgaged backed securities, the dominance of the market player, the culture of the firm and finally the scandal which served as the turning point of fortunes of ‘once the market leader’ or metaphorically- the final nail in the coffin. Background Salomon Brothers was founded in New York City in 1910 when three brothers-Arthur, Herbert, and Percy Salomon broke away from their father Ferdinands money-brokerage operation and went into business for themselves. The company was primarily a bond trading firm. The private company entered equities in the mid-1960s and between 1962 and 1964, Salomon more than tripled its underwriting business, from $276 million to $873 million. They entered investment banking in the early 1970s and established themselves with Pepsi-ICI merger among others. Since till 1981, the firm operated as a partnership, it had a close-knit culture and partners put the firm’s interest before their own. There were no issues over compensation or credit for work and slowly but surely Salomon was climbing the ladder of being a bulge bracket firm of Wall Street. As Salomon partner Abraham Eller once explained, â€Å". . . what helped make Salomon Brothers was not only the partners, but that the men they hired were hungry. †¦ We weren’t the sons of rich men. † However, in 1981, it was taken over by the Phibro Corporation and became a corporation with the name Phibro-Salomon Inc. until 1986, when Salomon gained control and changed the name of the parent company to Salomon Inc. In 1980’s under the leadership of John Gutfreund, Salomon participated in the leveraged-buyout boom of the 1980s and did deals like Xeroxs acquisition of Crum Foster and was also the adviser by ATT. In 1985, the firm’s peak year, Salomon brought in $760 million in pre-tax profits. In 1987, the company’s capital reached $3. 4 billion. Legislations which fuelled growth The following changes in legislation led to a conducive environment for bond trading and the development of the mortgage backed securities market which in turn impacted the fortunes of Salomon Brothers: * In 1979, the Federal Reserve announced that that the money supply would cease to fluctuate with the business cycle. Bond prices moved inversely with interest rates. Bonds became the means of â€Å"creating wealth rather than merely storing it. † The industry’s revenues rose from $16 billion in 1980 to $51. 8 billion in 1988. * In 1981, Congress passed a tax break which allowed thrifts to sell all their mortgage loans in order to put their money to work for higher returns. Subsequently, the volume of outstanding mortgage loans increased from $700 billion in 1976 to $1. 2 trillion in 1981, and the mortgage market surpassed the combined U. S. stock markets as the largest capital market in the world. The SEC’s Rule 415, enacted in 1982, where corporations were allowed to register in advance all the securities they intended to issue over the next two-year span (â€Å"shelf registrations†) and Salomon Brothers was the industry’s leader. * The protection of the Glass-Steagall Act, which stopped commercial banks to underwrite and distribute most securities ended and the competition intensified. Overall, the beginning o f the 1980’s decade led to an explosive growth in the bond markets and Salomon was ready to jump on the opportunity as it was one of the few Wall Street firms to have a proper mortgage trading department. Culture of the firm In order to understand the culture of the firm, we read the book Liar’s Poker written by Michael Lewis who was a bond salesman in Salomon Brothers and gives an inside account of the culture prevalent in the firm. Bond Traders and Salesmen: The two major classes of people at Salomon were the bond traders and salesmen. More than any other firm on the Wall Street, Salomon was run by bond traders who kept an eye on the market and made most of arbitrage opportunities while the salesmen gave information to the traders about the sentiments in market. The CEO of the company John Gutfreund also started off as a trader and spent his time at a large desk over seeing one end of Salomon’s bond trading room. The trading floor- the 41st floor, which was known as â€Å"Power Central†- was actually the power centre of the firm. He promoted an environment of risk-taking and agility and the Salomon Trading floor had minimal supervision, minimal controls and no position limits. That is, a trader could buy or sell as many bonds as he thought appropriate without asking. With an increase in business, the firm recruited widely. The firm, which had employed 2,000 people in 1982, tripled to 6,000 people by 1987. † Due to excessive focus on generating revenues, one insider put it as, â€Å"competing fiefdoms replaced interconnected businesses. † and â€Å"Making money was mostly what mattered. † Also, the mortgage department which made the maximum money had a culture of its own promoted by Ranieri (head of the department) which alienated it even more. According to Ranieri, â€Å"The reason everything was separate was because no one in the firm would help us. They wanted us to fail. † The Scandal This scandal was unique in itself as it shook the foundation of the sacrosanct $2. trillion government securities market which was considered too big to rig. The conventional wisdom was shaken to a great extent and regulations tightened for all the 40 primary designated dealers of T-bills and government bonds. Orchestration of the fraud: Paul Mozer, Managing Director of Salomon Inc. ’s government securities trading desk, submitted three separate bids for the U. S. Treasury’s $9 billion 5-year treasury note auction on Feb. 21,1991. Each of the bids was for $3. 15 billion, or 35% of the total bond offering, the maximum bid the Treasury would recognize from any individual buyer. Since two of the bids were submitted under the names of outside firms who were Salomon customers, Warburg and Quantum, the Treasury accepted all three bids. The Treasury was unaware that only Mozer’s bid in Salomon’s name was legal. The other two were unauthorized customer bids placed by Mozer trying to get Salomon a larger share of the auction. However, what Mozer did not know was that Warburg had taken part in the auction with a $100mn bid and with combined bid of more than 35% in name of Warburg; Treasury started an investigation which uncovered the plot of Mozer. This scandal led to the firing of Mozer, resignation of the top brass including Gutfreund and a loss of reputation of Salomon Brothers which they never recovered. Aftermath: This scandal shook the confidence of participants in the government securities market and led to investigations by Federal Reserve Bank, the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Treasury Department re-examined the records of every auction since 1986, a total of more than 200, searching for evidence of collusion with customers to violate the 35% rule. Salomon was fined $290 million as damages but it escaped criminal charges. The Treasury however, banned Salomon from bidding in Government Securities market. After the resignation of John Gutfreund, majority stakeholder Warren Buffet was made the chairman to revamp the organisation. He also convinced the Treasury to lift the ban as it would lead to Salomon towards bankruptcy. The firm became a victim of its own culture and finally the name of Salomon ceased to exist on the Wall Street which it had once dominated. Joining the dots Having done a course on Ethics, analysed case studies of Enron, WorldCom etc, made us realise that the frauds/scandals do not germinate over night; rather they are fruits of greed which is perpetrated by the Top management either directly or indirectly. As mentioned earlier, the culture of Salomon Brothers was such that traders were given a free hand as long as they generated revenues and were never questioned. This led to the audacity of Mozer wherein he submitted false bids not just the time when he was caught but in other auctions as well and had landed in trouble with the Treasury before. Had a proper system of reporting and accountability existed, the previous instances would have been known to top management and the entire scandal could have been averted which tarnished the reputation of the firm. At the same time, we believe, Treasury department should have been more vigilant as market participants i. e the 40 primary dealers could always collude and try to take the maximum out of the pie of the auction. Having a system which was transparent such that the bids could have been monitored by all the participants would have lead to detection of anomaly of bids in much short period of time without any extensive examination. The main learning that we can derive out of this study is twofold- * Promotion of Ethics and fair dealing as a part of corporate culture of the organisation following a top-down approach such that lower level employees get motivated from the conduct of senior levels * No matter who the participant is and the financial market in question, the regulator has to be vigilant at all times and have a stringent set of rules and regulations as well as penalties in place which deters market participants from erring. References: fundinguniverse. com/company-histories/Salomon-Inc-Company-History. html http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Salomon_Brothers#Long_Term_Capital_Management time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973726-2,00. html answers. com/topic/salomon-brothers Robert Sobel, Salomon Brothers 1910-85: Advancing to Leadership Michael Lewis, Liar’s Poker Salomon Brothers: â€Å"Apologies are Bullshit†- pdf

Phase3 DB International Business Disputes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Phase3 DB International Business Disputes - Essay Example This assignment provides a compressive discussion on the consequences that a business would face for operating within states that have not agreed with the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. It also gives detailed information on whether a business should or should not engage in business with nations that have not conformed to the requirements of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. One of the major consequences for transacting business with states that have not conformed to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is that only the contract laws of such nations will apply (Ferrari, 2012). This implies that an enterprise that wishes to engage in such business in capable to inadequate treatments in accordance with the laws of the state that has not agreed with the terms of the CISG. The contract law of such a nation may not be accommodative to foreign businesses. It is for this reason that such nations may be weaker in ensuring that the contractual balance between foreign and indigenous businesses is maintained. Businesses that wish to operate within states that have not agreed with the terms and conditions of the CISG may have to face importation or exportation restrictions according to the governing laws. It is important to note that different nations have different laws governing the importation and exportation of certain goods. However, the CISG standardizes the importation and exportation of goods across borders. Therefore, a business that wishes to transact business with states that have failed to embrace this international law may have to face the restriction of the importation or exportation of certain goods. According to article 68 of the CISG, the risk of damage of goods is passed to the buyer once the goods have been delivered. However, an enterprise engaging in business

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Common 2.1 - Essay Example The concert hall appeared inspiring to me containing pictures of great musicians hanging on its walls and having an attractive color scheme. In addition, the stage was wide and well lighted. The hall was full of people waiting for the musician to play. The curtain was shining brightly and swaying lightly in the wind. I was about to play â€Å"Chopin Variation† by Rossini. Suddenly, the curtain rose and I was struck by light. I played the piece vividly and people were able to connect to the song. The applause was like reaching up to the top of the mountain, almost overwhelming, but so worth it and their applause was another way of responding to my thought of music. My passion for music had taken me to new heights and I was grateful to my soul. I have been always rejuvenated by music and it has been a stress buster for me and a friend in all times of need. Music has given me an opportunity to work with many talented people. And now, I feel enlightened that my talent is giving in spiration to so many people. Music is so much dissolved in me that I have spent every day practicing. I work hard on music, but never feel weary of it. When I hear any Debussy pieces, I forget all my worries and troubles and they bring serenity to me. I remembered the days in school, when I used to play music and all my peers and teachers praised me. My passion for my music has encouraged me to learn more of it and seek innovation in it. I am so happy for understanding what it means to be a musician and the diligence and prestige of this career. That day at Woo Bong Art Hall, I loved to see that because the people in the hall were in utter joy. This feeling cannot be compared with anything. It was indeed out of this world. A kind of current passed from my head to toe. As I finished my performance, people started to applaud and I was extremely happy that people loved my piece. Some people climbed over to the stage to embrace me and shower their blessings. I

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Marketing plan - Assignment Example Personal contact with the client should be coupled with the use of the ever growing and beneficial social media platforms (Benett, 2009). Moreover, the business will incorporate client promotion as a key component of its marketing channels and tactics. The span and salon sector has experienced exponential growth over the last couple of years. The services are sought after majorly for relaxation. Most of the users of the services choose the salon or spa to visit on the basis of the range of services that are offered and the proximity to their places of work and residential homes (McDonald & Keegan, 2002). The quality of the service and the prices also influence consumer decision. A lot of service providers operating in Houston have targeted the high end market. These are individuals in stable employment and are on a stable income. Most of them charge an average of $ 250 for their services. From the price analysis, it is clear that a lot of people are locked out from this vital amenity. The need for affordable quality services in a convenient location is quite evident in the Houston market, based on the available data and it is such vital market needs that Divine Divas Salon seeks to satisfy. Divine Divas Salon targets people from all social classes living in Houston. The reason why the enterprise has decided to target the entire market is to avoid locking out those who had been previously denied access to the services due to the exorbitant charges. This market is made up of several groups that have different needs and characteristics. The first group consists of customers recovering from injuries. These clients need massage therapies and in most cases the charges are paid by the insurer (McDonald, 2011). The second group consists of clients who are out to pamper themselves. Majority of the members of the second cluster are

Informative Speech Essay Example for Free

Informative Speech Essay Attention Getter: Mothers day is coming up, and there is a few options for you to use as gifts. 1. You can spend fifty dollar on flowers just to watch them die in a week. 2. You can buy her chocolates even though most of us are constantly trying to cut back. 4. You can do nothing and look like a jerk. 5. Or can simply spend a dollar at a thrift store, and create a desk ornament using only an old book. Topic Sentence: Recently I’ve made a few of these and have gotten a really great response from family and friends. I suppose I’d call it book-origami, but I’m not sure if there’s a proper title for this sort of thing. My purpose tonight is to teach you how to make one of these. Credibility / goodwill: After I made my first book, I got several compliments on it. Afterward, I came to the conclusion it might make a great mantelpiece, or even a desk ornament. Itsinthestars.com/us shows a survey taken in 2012 that states â€Å"The average person ends up purchasing 16 gifts or more a year.† Gift buying can add up quickly so I have found that it is nice to have a backup plan in case you’re broke at the time. Surely some of us in this very room have come to this dilemma so I am hoping to provide an idea for such an occasion. Thesis: Tonight I will teach you how to make one of these decorations by first teaching you what type of books are best to use, secondly I will tell you how to prepare the process of getting started, and lastly I will be teaching you a few of the folding techniques. Body: (Chronological = steps in a process) I. The First step in making one of these book decorations is to find the right kind of book to work with A. Through trial and error, I have found that it is best to use a hardcover book. 1. The way I have been making these has been without the use of any glues or starches, and the hardcover frame seems to help the book hold its shape naturally. B. When choosing your book you will also need to consider the number of pages that it has. 2. This was actually my first book, and it has about two hundred fifty pages in it. My second book actually has over 550 pages in it. The choice you make depends on your taste, but personally I think the thicker book has a much fuller and professional look. C. You should also consider the size of the cover of your book. 1. I believe that a someone smaller book makes for the best decoration because it doesn’t take up much room. Transition: Now that you have chosen a book to work with, you are ready to divide your book in sections. A. In my first book I didn’t take a whole lot of time, and just approximately divided the book into 3 sections. 1. You might not be able to tell at first glance but one side actually has around 15 pages more using the first folding style. B. If you want to go for a truly symmetrical look, I would suggest counting out each page individually. It will take more time this way, but you will probably be happier with the end result. 1. After you have decided how much you want in each section, I would recommend marking each sections beginning and end with a bookmark. Transition : Now that you have sectioned off your book, you’re ready to start folding. (please excuse my lack of technical terms, but this is really just something I’ve been experimenting with and was not actually taught anything about origami. A. I like to start off each book with several simple corner folds. 1. After each page, you should alternate between folding the top corner down, and folding the bottom corner down. 2. The reason I start the book this way because it is a really easy technique, and it also seems to help the book expand quite a bit. B. Another fold I use quite a bit I would call an airplane fold. I call it this because it is how I remember starting off paper airplanes, again this isn’t a technical lesson. 1. This technique is done simple by folding the top and bottom edges into the middle of the page. 2. I tend to use this technique for the middle section because again, it is very easy to do, and it helps the book to stand up. C. What I have used for the outer-middle section here is actually just a variation of the airplane fold. 1. After folding both edges in, you then take the middle point of the page and fold it to either the upper or lower portion, again alternating with each following page t o get this accordion look. Conclusion: Thesis: Tonight I have taught you how to make one of these decorations by first teaching you what type of books are best to use, secondly telling you how to prepare the process of getting started, and lastly I taught you a few of the folding techniques. Closure: Now you’re ready to make one of these for yourself. I’ve only been doing this for a few months, and I have found that most of the fun comes from trying new techniques. I’ve only shared with you a couple of the techniques that I’ve used. I would highly encourage you to try some of your own ideas, get creative . You could try ripping or cutting the edges of certain pages to give them a rough look, or you could add paperclips to portions of the book to give it a specific hold. Maya Angelou once said in the book Conversations with Maya Angelou printed in 1989 â€Å"You cant use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have† I’ve always agreed with that. I have found this to be a fun, creative and cheap idea for a gift. Mothers day is Sunday the 12th of May this year, so you should get started.

Impact of the Discovery of Homo Floresiensis

Impact of the Discovery of Homo Floresiensis The discovery of Homo Floresiensis has profound implications for what it means to be human; it raises questions about the uniqueness of human lineage which is the foundation of our society and our religions. The three great problems for nineteenth century ethnology and prehistory were identified by Latham in Man and his Migrations (1851) as: the unity or non-unity of the human species; its antiquity; and its geographical origin. This shortlist has formed the basis for research into human origins ever since. The ambiguity surrounding each question has been reduced to every generation’s satisfaction, then thrown open again as changes in opinion about the world and its people have led to revisions. This cyclical process has provided the spur to fieldwork and the development of new techniques of classification, analysis and dating. Latham was writing at an interesting time in scientific progress of thought, eight years before the Origin of Species was published. This was the foundation text for the biogeography of Darwin and Wallace which accounted for the distribution of life on the plant. The importance of these studies was their contribution to the scientific investigation of variation via the principle of natural selection. Individuals were the units under selection with the evolutionary results measured by their differential reproductive contribution to the next generation. The notion of a cradle for mankind, a discrete geographical centre for human origins, is an ancient idea. The Garden of Eden is the best known example. Adam and Eve might be replaced, as they were in the last century, but the idea of an ancestral homeland continued. The study of human origins now starts from a very different set of assumptions than it did when Latham penned his three questions. It is also extremely well-informed about process and patterns in the data compared to 150 years ago. The celebration of progress has fallen from the agenda. Living peoples are no longer regarded as living representatives of a past which the Western world once possessed.   But for all these apparently fundamental changes the questions on the agenda remain the same. Why should the study of human evolution be restricted, because of the search for cradles, to some continents. What it means to be human The fascination with humanity’s African origins, singular or otherwise, remains unabated. Great strides in understanding the development of modern human beings are currently being taken at the very southern tip of Africa. While much of the press attention over the past few decades has been on the scholarly debate on whether humans evolved once in Africa, universally known as the Out of Africa theory, or several times all over the world, the multiregional hypothesis, a quiet revolution has occurred centred on what it means to be human (Stringer and Gamble, 1993). Within twentieth century archaeology and palaeontology, probably since the discovery of the Lascaux Caves in France, archaeologists have continually believed that, while anatomically modern Homo sapiens evolved somewhere between 100,000-150,000 years ago, humans didnt actually develop modern behaviours and thought processes until around 50,000-40,000 years ago (Wood, 1992). This event, known in some scientific circles as the creative explosion, was announced by what researchers saw as an abrupt blossoming of symbolic thought; the ability to identify and create representations of entities. Thus, according to the creative explosion theory, H. sapiens displayed a recognisable intelligence equivalent to other hominids of the time, identifiable by the cave artwork at Lascaux. Further evidence of the initiation of modern human behaviour is alleged to include fishing, the manufacture of bone tools, and the use of decoration. Following the initial interest in Africa during the early decades of the twentieth century, the majority of archaeological research moved to Europe. The overwhelming concentration on the visible prehistory of Europe, including both cave and portative artwork, resulted in a deficit of research into human origins in Africa. The research of the past forty years has indeed been remarkable in yielding up a great many fossil and cultural remains from a broad range of African environments. After a period of relative neglect, however, increasing attention was being given to the biological and behavioural changes that led to the evolution of H. sapiens, the last major even in human evolution.   The triumph of archaeological research into the earliest prehistory of Africa was trumpeted by the archaeologist Desmond Clark in the Huxley Memorial Lecture of 1974. Titles â€Å"Africa in prehistory: peripheral or paramount?† it pointed to the overwhelming evidence from Africa for the origi n of hominids, which overthrew the previous view â€Å"that the history of Europe is emphatically the prehistory of humanity.† (Clark,1975). Eventually, evidence of an earlier flourishing of the creative mind began to appear, south of the Zambezi River, and dated to the Mesolithic, the earliest date approximating 70,000 years ago. Similar artefact assemblages known as Howiesons Poort and Still Bay had been found at sites such as the Klasies River Caves, Boomplaas, and Die Kelders Cave I in South Africa (Grine et al., 2000). These sites included sophisticated bone tools, backed blades, a careful selection of raw material for stone tools and the use of a punch technique; however, most of these were controversial in one respect or another, until the discovery of Blombos Cave. Research into the Blombos Cave assemblages have been undertaken since 1991, and artefacts identified have include sophisticated bone and stone tools, fish bones, and an abundance of used ochre (Leakey and Lewin, 1993). Ochre has no known economic function, and it is virtually universally accepted as a source of colour for ceremonial, decorative purposes. The Blombos Cave layers containing used ochre are dated 70,000 to 80,000 years BP, and, in 2004, a cluster of deliberately perforated and red-stained shell beads dating to the Mesolithic was found (Aiello and Dean, 1990). Without any obvious practical purpose these artefacts are currently interpreted as personal ornaments or jewellery, possibly belonging to the occupants of Blombos. The most persuasive interpretation of these finds, and numerous others throughout Africa, within the parameters imposed by previous and current discoveries and research, is that the growth of the human symbolic thought was a slow process that continued t hroughout the Mesolithic in Africa. Symbolism, and its deliberate representation, is a phenomenon previously unidentifiable in any extant species other than H. sapiens, despite the genetic and predominantly behavioural similarity between humans and other primates, and can therefore be interpreted as a distinctly human trait (Spencer, 1876-96). Symbolism, in all its forms, however has not always been strictly the prerogative of H. sapiens.   Many investigators of Neanderthal culture believe that H. neanderthalensis was the earliest species of hominid to ritually bury their dead, and important evidence to support this statement originates from Shanidar Cave, located in the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq (Solecki, 1971). Between 1951 and 1960, excavations in and around the mouth of the cave were undertaken, allowing the recovery of a range of Mousterian tools, and the analysis of eight burials, relating to the remains of seven adults and one child. While four of these individuals appear to have been killed by rockfalls, four others may have been deliberately buried (Gargett, 1989). Soil samples taken around one particular burial, known as Shanidar IV, revealed the presence of pollen grains and small amounts of vegetable matter. While there was very little pollen in most of the soil samples taken around the skeleton, two samples from the burial itself contained a large number of pollen grains representing a total of 28 plant species (Leakey and Lewin, 1993). This evidence was used to support the hypothesis that more than 50,000 years ago the body was deliberately and ritualistically buried on a bed of woody branches and flowers sometime during the months of May through July, during the blooming season for the plant species. Excavations of the cave over the next decade yielded cultural data as well as skeletal remains of Middle Palaeolithic Neanderthals and Proto-Neolithic modern humans, representing two periods renowned for the scarcity of such material (Solecki, 1975). According to subsequent research, the Neanderthal and Proto-Neolithic people of Shanidar Cave potentially followed culturally-defined methods for burying their dead in a base camp, possibly increasing the groups ties to a traditional home site. They practiced both primary burial (interment of a mostly intact body shortly after death) and secondary burial (final interment of disarrayed or isolated bones or of a body that had undergone some other burial process as a first stage) (Aiello and Dean, 1990). Offerings placed in the grave included bead ornaments and assumed favoured personal objects, but no obvious symbols of rank. The variety of materials included reveals an extensive long-distance exchange trade, and the mortuary practices are comparable to those of other contemporary Near Eastern cultures (Leakey and Lewin, 1993; Solecki et al., 2004). The material culture of the cave and the surrounding Zagros area is characterized by chipped stone industry and such innovations as a variety of ground stone tools, worked bone tools and abundant personal ornaments. These suggest growing cultural richness and elaboration, a semi-sedentary lifestyle and a mixed subsistence strategy based both on wild species of plants and animals and early domesticates (Gargett, 1989). Though the interpretation of deliberate and ritualistic H. neanderthalensis burials remains contentious, with opponents suggesting the presence of flower pollen within the grave is a result not of deliberate adornment of the corpse but of the accidental deposition of flower and plant matter from burrowing rodents, until the theory of ritualistic burial is conclusively disproved it remains a highly persuasive hypothesis for cross-species traits of ‘humanity’. Although much has been made of the Neanderthals burial of their dead, their burials were less elaborate than those of anatomically modern humans. The interpretation of the Shanidar IV burials as including flowers, and therefore being a form of ritual burial, potentially evidence for the acknowledgement of a theoretical afterlife, has been questioned (Sommer, 1999). In some cases Neanderthal burials include grave goods such as bison and aurochs bones, tools, and the pigment ochre. Neanderthals performed a sophisticat ed set of tasks normally associated with humans alone. For example, they constructed complex shelters, controlled fire, and skinned animals. Particularly intriguing is a hollowed-out bear femur with four holes in the diatonic scale deliberately bored into it. Estimated to date at approximately 43,ooo up to 82,ooo years old, this ‘flute’ was found in western Slovenia in 1995 near a Mousterian Era hearth used by Neanderthals. Its significance is still a matter of dispute, however, its perfect fit to bother modern and antique diatonic scales implies the deliberate manufacturing of a musical note making device (Aiello and Dean, 1990). Music beyond the percussive, in addition to ritual and symbolism, is another previously assumed trait of H. sapiens alone, and the Slovenian flute suggests a rethink of what it means to be human may be required. Similarly, the concept of prolonged care of community individuals is a trait usually attributed to the H. sapiens species. While other species present evidence of a rudimentary form of care, the deliberate attention paid to the prolonging of life of an individual with no primitive value to a community, such as providing nutrition to an elderly community member for an extended period of time, is peculiarity associated primarily with H. sapiens. It has been previously believed that this trait, in addition to being singular to the human race, can be interpreted as a definition of what it means to be human. However, similar to the evidence presented above, there has been strongly influential evidence of ‘care in the community’ from Neanderthal societies. Following a 6 year excavation season beginning in 1899, the site of the Krapina caves, Republic of Croatia, yielded a number of osteological Neanderthal specimens. Radiographs undertaken in 1997 indicated a number of surpris ing conclusions. While the overall picture of Neanderthal health, based on the radiographs, was impressive, not all the specimens showed perfect health. Archaeologists were able to document one of the earliest benign bone tumours ever discovered and identified, and one individual may have had a surgical amputation of his hand (Leakey and Lewin, 1993). In addition, several individuals had examples of osteoarthritis ranging in severity, and it is suggested that the extended survival of these individuals following surgery or the onset of debilitating arthropathies indicates a sophisticated level of care from the healthy population. Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behaviour sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth using an incredible variety of tools and subsistence techniques. Our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammals. Evolutionists, and scientists from other fields of study, argue that only a Darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics. The twentieth century is offering a radical interpretation of human evolution, arguing that Homo sapiens ecological dominance and singular social systems stem from a psychology uniquely adapted to create complex culture. Richerson and Boyd (2004) illustrate that culture is neither superorganic nor the handmaiden of the genes. Rather, it is essential to human adaptation, as much a part of human biology as bipedal locomotion. Drawing on work in the fields of anthropology, political science, sociology, and economics, Richerson and Boyd (2004) convincingly attest that culture and biology are inextricably linked, and their interaction yields a richer understanding of human nature. Discovery of Homo floresiensis Currently, it is widely accepted that only one hominid genus, Homo, was present in Pleistocene Asia, represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Both species are characterized by greater brain size, increased body height and smaller teeth relative to the Pliocene Australopithecus genus present in Africa (Brown et al., 2004). But it was the most spectacular fossil find of a generation that has marked twentieth century studies into human evolution. The discovery that a mysterious and apparently ingenious human species may have shared the planet with our own less than 15,000 years ago captured the imagination of palaeontologists and public alike. Excavations at Liang Bua, a large limestone cave on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, have yielded evidence for a population of tiny hominids, sufficiently distinct anatomically to be assigned to a new species, Homo floresiensis (Morwood et al., 2004). An excavation team under the leadership of Australian and Indonesian scientists have unearthed the remains of eight human beings of relatively restricted stature and reduced brain volume, comparative to previously understood parameters for anatomically modern humans. In recognition of the combination of primitive and derived features, and their subsequently assumed status as a species distinct from Homo sapiens, the fossils were ascribed the name Homo floresiensis (Flores Man) after the island on which they were discovered. One skeleton, estimated to be that of a woman in her 30s and calculated to be approximately 18,000 years old, was only 1 metre tall, and the endocranial volume of the skeleton in question was a mere 380 cc, significant as it may be regarded as small even for a chimpanzee (Beals et al., 1984) and equal to the smallest-known australopithecines (Brown, et al., 2004). Investigations into the specimens, estimated to belong to at least eight individuals, show that H. floresiensis inhabited the cave at Liang Bua for an extended period of time ranging between 95,000 and 12,000 years ago. The common opinion of the archaeologists responsible for examining the tools and animal bones unearthed in the cave is that H. floresiensis individuals exhibited complex behaviour requiring the capacity for speech, and can therefore be regarded as social and intelligent human beings with creative ability. Stones carved and sharpened for particular purposes, and animal bones discovered in the cave, indicate t hat these people were successful hunters, capable of catching animals larger than themselves, and associated deposits contain stone artefacts and animal remains, including Komodo dragon and an endemic, dwarfed species of Stegodon. There has been some speculation that the stone tools found with it were actually made by Homo sapiens, mainly because it is hard to believe a creature with such a small brain could make such sophisticated stone tools. There is no other evidence in support of this, however, and if it were not for the small brain size, there would be no hesitation about assuming floresiensis made the tools because of the close association between the tools and the fossils. The same tools are found through the entire deposit (from 90,000 to 13,000 years ago) and, interestingly, they are not like any stone tools made by Homo erectus (Kaifu et al., 2005). The finds comprise the cranial and some post-cranial remains of one individual, as well as a premolar from another individual in older deposits. Dating by radiocarbon (C14), luminescence, uranium-series and electron spin resonance (ESR) methods indicates that H. floresiensis existed from before 38,000 years ago (kyr) until at least 18  kyr (reference). It is alleged, with much research still yet to be undertaken, that H. floresiensis originated from an early dispersal of Homo erectus, including specimens referred to as Homo ergaster and Homo georgicus, that reached Flores, and then survived on this island refuge until relatively recently. The most likely explanation for its existence on Flores is long-term isolation, with subsequent endemic dwarfing. H. floresiensis overlapped significantly in time with Homo sapiens in the region, however, interactions between the two species currently remain unknown. Importantly, H. floresiensis shows that the genus Homo is morphologically more va ried and flexible in its adaptive responses than previously thought (reference). The finds further demonstrate that H. floresiensis was not simply an aberrant or pathological individual, thereby interpretable as anomalous and inconsequential within the field of human evolution, but is representative of a long-term population that was present on the island for approximately 80,000 years. According to the dwarfism scenario, it is assumed that the H. floresiensis line descended from Homo erectus. The justification for that belief, however, is currently experiencing much debate within the archaeological academic arena, and relies on the comparison between tool assemblages uncovered from the Liang Bua cave, and thus associated with H. floresiensis, and a series of assemblages reported by Morwood in 1998, and dating to approximately 800,000 BP (Morwood et al., 1998). The similarities between these assemblages resulted in the assumption that H. floresiensis was a descendent of the manufacturer of the older collection of tools, H. erectus. H. floresiensis facial anatomy also generally resembles that of H. erectus, and, in addition, the East Asia region in which the island lies is one of the regions where H. erectus was extant for a long period. One article published in Science journal in 1996 listed evidence that H. erectus had survived on Java, an Indonesian island like Fl ores, until as recently as 27,000 years ago. (Swisher et al., 1996) Implications: Society, religion and politics Despite an academic and generic fascination with the process of human evolution, the creationist arguments in disagreement with evolutionary research remain influential. According to many creationist proponents, the reason why scientists have elected to give the fossils in question the name H. floresiensis is that researchers, who have accepted the idea that humans initially developed through evolution, cannot afford to imply a hypothesis that does not accord with the evolutionary ‘myth’ they have presented. Evolutionists are accused of naming ‘old human races’ by a methodology that relies on exaggerated interpretation of the variations presented between hominids, and in comparison with anatomically modern man, and thus results the declaration of the fossils as a new species. According to current creationist advocates, the H. floresiensis fossils are also a product of this methodology, and their description as a new species rests solely on evolutionist †˜preconceptions’. Predominant creationists have gone further to attest that the description of H. floresiensis as a new human species provides no support at all for the theory of evolution, but, on the contrary, reveals how forced the claims regarding it actually are (reference). The concept of the biological species is used in the present day for organisms included in the same category that are able to mate and successfully produce healthy offspring. This definition is based on mutual reproducibility as setting out the boundary criterion between species. According to creationist proponents, however, there is no means of knowing, simply by analysing and categorising the fossilised bones of organisms that lived in the past, which were able to reproduce with which. Classification based on degrees of similarities between bones, and the variations exhibited among these, may not reveal scientifically definite conclusions as some species, such as the dog, exhibit wide variation, others, such as the cheetah, are known to exhibit only narrow variation. Accordingly, when fossils belonging to extinct species are discovered, creationists attest, the variation observed may stem from one of two reasons. This variation either belongs to a species exhibiting wide variation or to a few separate species exhibiting narrow variation, yet there is no way of knowing which of the two actually applies. Indeed, Alan Walker, palaeoanthropologist and evolutionist, admits this fact by claiming that one cannot know whether or not a fossil is representative of the community to which it belongs. He further states that one cannot know whether it comes from one of the ends of the species range, or from somewhere in the middle (Locke, 1999). Evolutionists define the H. floresiensis fossils as a separate species, and regard its small endocranial volume and short skeleton as characteristics of that species. However, creationists contest this by asserting that individuals may not carry all the features in the population gene pool, and, therefore, the features exhibited by individuals may not be those generally exhibited in a given population. Therefore, the smaller the quantity of fossils analysed the greater the risk of error in assuming that their features are those of the general population. Locke (1999) has elucidated this with a simple analogy: if a palaeoanthropologist of the future discovers bones belonging to a professional basketball player, then twenty-first century man may well seem to have been a giant species. He further stated that if the skeleton belongs to a jockey, on the other hand, then humans will seem to have been short and lightweight bipeds (Locke, 1999). According to creationists, therefore, the defi nition of H. floresiensis as a separate species based on its small brain volume and short skeleton, and the assumption that all individuals possessed those same features, is a mistake, and that these fossils may well be regarded as variations seen in old human races living at that time. In relative support for the creationist viewpoint, the real surprise for evolutionists came from learning that a hominid with such a small brain volume lived not millions of years ago but only 18,000 years BP. Chris Stringer, from Londons Natural History Museum, admits this surprise to the archaeological community; that the very existence of a creature with a brain the size of a chimpanzees, but apparently a tool-maker and hunter, and perhaps descended from the worlds first mariners, illustrates how little is currently known about human evolution (Wood, 1992). Peter Brown, one of the leaders of the research team at Liang Bua, describes the bewilderment within academic circles as a result of the cranial measurements, and admits that H. floresiensis is totally incompatible with evolutionary accounts; that small stature is easy to accommodate within the evolutionary theories, but small brain size is a bigger problem to account for. According to the creationist theory advocates, the evol utionists own statements reflect the ‘heavy blow’ the fossil in question has dealt to the ‘illusory’ scenario of human evolution (Wood, 1992). The confusion with regards to the interpretations of H. floresiensis is not restricted to the disparities in hypotheses between evolutionists and creationists. Scientists have been unravelling the mysteries of when early hominids first left Africa, where they went, how many hominid species there were, and how they relate to modern humans, for more than a century. The H. erectus skull recently found in Indonesia adds a valuable piece to the fossil record, but scientists differ about where it fits in the human family tree. One particular specimen of cranium, known as Sambungmacan 4 (Sm 4), was found in the Sambungmacan district of central Java, Indonesia. It is that of a middle-aged or slightly younger male Homo erectus who had probably suffered and recovered from head wounds. Two partial skulls and the fragment of a tibia had previously been discovered in the area. It is assumed that H. erectus, and perhaps other early hominid species, began leaving Africa approximately 2 million year s ago, and fossil remains have been found in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, indicating a widespread global distribution of individuals and communities. In addition to the media-friendly discovery of H. floresiensis, given the moniker of â€Å"The Hobbit† by the press, Indonesia, an island nation in southeast Asia, is the site of some of the earliest Homo erectus remains yet found. The relatively abundant fossil material provides scientists with an opportunity to study the evolution of the species and how it relates to modern humans. Anthropologists from the National Science Museum in Tokyo, analyzed the Sm 4 skull using digital visualization techniques, and compared it with other skulls found in Java. It is argued that morphological characteristics of early H. erectus in Java, represented by fossil finds from Trinil/Sangiran, more closely resemble those of modern humans (Baba et al., 2003). Fossil material from Ngandong, which has been dated to anywhere between 25,000 to 50,000 years old, suggests that Java H. erectus had gone off on an evolutionary tangent of its own, developing distinct features that are not shared by modern humans. It is concluded by this research that Javanese populations became progressively more isolated from other Asian H. erectus populations, and made minimal contributions to the ancestry of modern humans (Kaifu et al., 2005). At one time scientists considered it possible that modern humans were the direct descendants of Asian Homo erectus. That idea has been discarded by many scientists who now think that while African H. erectus may be ancestral to H. sapiens, Asian H. erectus was an evolutionary dead end, similar to earlier theories regarding H. neanderthalensis, rather than the immediate precursor to modern humans (Kaifu et al., 2005). However, debate continues and other specialists believe that the African version of H. erectus is dissimilar enough to belong in a separate species category called Homo ergaster. The geological complexity of the Indonesian islands makes precise dating of the fossil material difficult and controversial. Fossils found at Trinil and Sangiran range in age from approximately 1.8 million years old to maybe as young as 780,000 years old (Swisher et al., 1996). Comparatively, fossils found at Ngandong have been dated at approximately 50,000 years old. The Sm 4 specimen is believ ed to fit somewhere between these two groups in age, and therefore may be contemporary with H. sapiens.   The uncertainty of Sm 4s age lies in part with current disagreement as to whether or not all fossils from Sambungmacan represent a single fauna or are composites being derived from various age strata. Whether there is enough difference between the early fossils and the later fossils that they should be considered two separate species or a sub-species is also controversial. Based on variations in skull shape, and a lack of diversity among Javanese populations living 25,000 to 50,000 years ago, it has been concluded that Sm 4 is a transitional form, an evolutionary step taking the later Javanese populations farther away from classical Homo erectus remains found at Trinil and Sangiran (Baba et al., 2003). However, this conclusions is debated on the basis that the larger brain sizes of later materials, fossils dated at 25,000 to 50,000 years ago, are different enough that they sho uld be considered a different species or at least sub-species. Sm 4 phenotypically appears to be a lot of the other material found in Indonesia. The material is morphologically very consistent, and shows continuity within Indonesian Homo erectus. There are some features, particularly around the jaw joint that may be unique to the Ngandong fossils, however it is not clear whether the features are taxonomically significant or useful as species indicators (Baba et al., 2003).The disparities in the skulls seen in Indonesia may be a function of normal variability in any species, illustrated particularly well when considering the variations in height between ‘normal’ humans and those suffering from achondroplasia; both remain within the species of H. sapiens, however difference in stature can be remarkable. The claim by Desmond Morris, that the existence of â€Å"The Hobbit†, or H. floresiensis should destroy religion (Tattersall, 1986), is one which has been made before. Indeed, Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, still cannot understand why religion survived Darwin (Tattersall, 1986). Yet as science progresses, despite the decline of allegiance to traditional Christian churches in Western Europe, religion continues to grow world-wide in many different forms. Contemporary science, far from solving every question, often highlights the big questions which are central to human existence. This is the case with the discovery of LB1, the 18,000-year-old specimen of the new species Homo floresiensis. The find of this so-called Hobbit on Flores Island excites many academics within many fields, not least archaeology and theology, as it poses the unresolved question of what it means to be human. LB1 becomes part of this contemporary question alongside developments in science, su

ACL Injury :: Sports Medicine

Sports Medicine ACL Injury The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is one of two central ligaments that support the knee. ACL injuries occur most frequently in planting and cutting sports such as soccer and basketball. ACL injuries are thought to occur more often in women then in men due to the anatomical differences between them. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament also know as the ACL is located behind the patella (kneecap). It connects the femur and tibia. The ACL acts as a seat belt in the knee, it keeps the tibia from slipping as a result of jerky movements. Since women’s hips are wider it may put extra pressure on the ACL, making it more vulnerable to injury. High estrogen levels at mid-cycle may also make the ACL more likely to tear from to much movement. Women tear their ACL’s at a rate of two to eight times that of men. The ACL is listed as the most commonly injured ligament in the knee. Most often when ACL injuries occur the knee may feel as if it is coming apart or giving way, and a commonly described â€Å"pop† may be heard at the time of the injury. most athletes are unable to continue participating in their activity, but some are able to stand and walk. Swelling usually begins in the first few hours after injury. Pain progressively worsens and muscle spasms may occur, A complete exam at the time of the injury is ideal. Anterior Cruciate Ligament reconstruction’s are performed using arthroscopic surgery. The surgery is performed by removing the damaged section of the ACL and replacing it with a graft from the patella tendon, hamstring tendon, or a cadaver graft. To connect the graft back into the knee two tunnels are drilled one into the tibia and one into the femur. Then two small pieces of bone are placed in the tunnels and then the graft is attached to the bones. Traditional rehabilitation after surgery involves a period of rest then the gradual introduction of exercises to improve range of motion, strength, and functional ability.