the smallest common multiple of 765798 and 915981.
518445246
What is the common denominator of -81/76793030 and -3/122868848?
614344240
Calculate the least common multiple of 714 and 104974626.
734822382
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 7716 and 49091764.
147275292
What is the least common multiple of 518695 and 371145?
169613265
Calculate the common denominator of -57/406145 and -51/406145.
406145
What is the least common multiple of 17120 and 184271120?
368542240
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 1921925 and 7818.
11531550
Calculate the least common multiple of 288766 and 12290.
1774467070
What is the common denominator of 23/34524204 and 35/132?
34524204
What is the least common multiple of 8041408 and 128?
16082816
Find the common denominator of -13/11035 and 67/10752.
118648320
Find the common denominator of -127/1139976 and 20/619617.
3316190184
What is the lowest common multiple of 47970574 and 2?
47970574
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 132160 and 304.
2511040
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 858 and 260468.
8595444
What is the lowest common multiple of 32974436 and 164?
1351951876
What is the common denominator of 59/43043 and 59/46949?
288689401
What is the lowest common multiple of 1807167 and 137?
1807167
Calculate the common denominator of 13/1351665 and 41/33715.
14868315
What is the common denominator of -97/78078968 and 71/17745220?
390394840
What is the lowest common multiple of 627540 and 211229964?
1056149820
What is the common denominator of 73/28 and 101/2104816?
2104816
Calculate the common denominator of 51/425461 and -15.
425461
What is the lowest common multiple of 36 and 113208696?
113208696
What is the lowest common multiple of 32406 and 1008?
5444208
Calculate the common denominator of 13/10408 and 89/29080.
37833080
What is the common denominator of 73/596254 and 25/1922?
18483874
What is the smallest common multiple of 1868784 and 1401588?
5606352
What is the least common multiple of 6428 and 2473173?
9892692
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 36696 and 1963236.
3926472
Calculate the common denominator of 107/6740090 and 71/352590.
465066210
Find the common denominator of 63/52410742 and 30/13.
681339646
Find the common denominator of -25/335658402 and -53/9.
335658402
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 26057004 and 4342834.
26057004
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 735 and 1369746.
6848730
What is the lowest common multiple of 200 and 890485?
35619400
Calculate the common denominator of 43/1144 and -59/70389.
7320456
Calculate the common denominator of -38/2721459 and 35/20553.
46264803
Find the common denominator of -79/10945770 and 47/8026898.
120403470
Find the common denominator of -20/10241 and -43/18228.
3809652
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 198534 and 1125.
74450250
Calculate the least common multiple of 12 and 129552466.
777314796
What is the least common multiple of 7506688 and 8?
7506688
What is the least common multiple of 2112747 and 28613?
65495157
Calculate the common denominator of -37/254053864 and 53/24.
762161592
Calculate the least common multiple of 53074020 and 73836.
1114554420
What is the lowest common multiple of 3273786 and 22916502?
22916502
Find the common denominator of 101/1205712 and -35/5112.
85605552
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 176599140 and 24.
353198280
What is the least common multiple of 1746045 and 528885?
127461285
What is the least common multiple of 893945 and 157755?
2681835
What is the least common multiple of 38145744 and 8?
38145744
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 107569 and 381.
322707
Calculate the common denominator of -5/1234468 and 71/17100.
277755300
Calculate the least common multiple of 7337650 and 587012.
14675300
Calculate the least common multiple of 1647867 and 44979.
18126537
Calculate the common denominator of -53/3996 and -34/17727.
23612364
Find the common denominator of 115/677348 and 69/12614.
35899444
What is the common denominator of -83/416590 and 52/3541015?
7082030
Find the common denominator of 149/659502 and -103/97200.
131900400
Calculate the least common multiple of 69 and 3333174.
76663002
What is the common denominator of 11/81205140 and 107/1790?
81205140
What is the smallest common multiple of 80472 and 11004?
10541832
What is the common denominator of 163/12658560 and -77/10260?
113927040
What is the lowest common multiple of 2845608 and 7825422?
31301688
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 1291169 and 821653.
9038183
Calculate the common denominator of 13/332 and -155/105096.
8722968
Find the common denominator of -19/2665613 and 29/86.
5331226
What is the smallest common multiple of 3016773 and 612?
205140564
What is the common denominator of -11/13350 and -47/15036?
33455100
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 86844127 and 134.
173688254
Calculate the least common multiple of 321780 and 1080.
5792040
Calculate the common denominator of 101/12336 and 5/5384.
8302128
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 25824084 and 54.
232416756
Calculate the common denominator of 53/146 and -69/1013816.
74008568
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 73666464 and 32229078.
515665248
Find the common denominator of 77/45 and 145/63649662.
954744930
Calculate the common denominator of -62/119391309 and -91/36.
477565236
Calculate the least common multiple of 15 and 143144275.
429432825
Find the common denominator of -163/5747016 and 157/31608588.
63217176
Find the common denominator of -64/265611 and -34/12399.
1097770263
Calculate the common denominator of 83/193046 and -29/4067.
112159726
Find the common denominator of 133/1495584 and 119/13314852.
958669344
Calculate the common denominator of -70/33 and -26/39158133.
430739463
What is the smallest common multiple of 1807831 and 16405?
9039155
What is the smallest common multiple of 194600 and 219158520?
1095792600
What is the common denominator of 71/27945 and 1/2700?
558900
Find the common denominator of -40/33710839 and 4/51815.
168554195
What is the least common multiple of 2311408 and 15488?
203403904
What is the least common multiple of 14752440 and 6761535?
162276840
Find the common denominator of 4/64320747 and -85/6.
128641494
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 1641 and 4232139.
4232139
Find the common denominator of -25/34897 and 31/26137853.
26137853
Find the common denominator of -19/197532 and 157/111254412.
1001289708
What is the lowest common multiple of 7 and 14483571?
101384997
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 156770 and 1385.
43425290
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 6605 and 12830873.
64154365
Calculate the common denominator of -179/2520 and -1/4536.
22680
What is the smallest common multiple of 40837986 and 648?
490055832
Find the common denominator of -127/811680 and 63/2583848.
155030880
Find the common denominator of -49/116 and 117/15760.
457040
Find the common denominator of 115/116052 and -157/9120.
4642080
What is the common denominator of -74/279 and -74/710241?
2130723
Calculate the common denominator of 71/365299984 and 89/18.
3287699856
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 3680 and 1383680.
1383680
What is the common denominator of 62/1299 and 31/6063?
2625279
Calculate the least common multiple of 432 and 81648.
81648
What is the common denominator of -83/241542 and -157/17337348?
156036132
What is the common denominator of 149/4334292 and 69/963176?
8668584
What is the lowest common multiple of 152091 and 14148?
608364
What is the least common multiple of 496080300 and 45300?
496080300
Calculate the common denominator of 28/279 and 56/7880541.
23641623
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 2433242 and 343.
2433242
What is the smallest common multiple of 137564 and 903992?
6327944
Calculate the smallest common multiple of 29267 and 51415.
1902355
Find the common denominator of -10/17883 and 4/8732865.
26198595
Calculate the lowest common multiple of 253 and 347510358.
3822613938
Calculate the least common multiple of 12933378 and 171722.
245734182
What is the lowest common multiple of 29845728 and 339156?
29845728
Calculate the least common multiple of 132 and 1652408.
54529464
What is the lowest common multiple of 37296 and 28867104


Drug discovery and epithelial physiology.
Small-molecule inhibitors and activators of gene products or cell functions can be valuable research tools for analyzing gene function ('chemical genetics'), and as leads for the development of new therapies ('drug discovery'). The recent National Institutes of Health roadmap highlights small-molecule discovery and applications in cellular and in-vivo systems as an important new research direction. The purpose of this review is to explain the small-molecule discovery process for investigators doing research in an academic setting, with emphasis on advances and directions in epithelial transport physiology. The small-molecule discovery process involves the identification and validation of gene or phenotype targets, the screening of collections of small compounds for activity against the target, and the evaluation and optimization of compounds of interest. Many potential targets in renal epithelial physiology are suitable for small-molecule identification. Although small-molecule discovery in epithelial biology is in its infancy, recent advances have been reported in modulating the function of epithelial chloride channels, including the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator and ClC-type chloride channels. Small-molecule discovery by the screening of chemical libraries is feasible in the academic setting, and holds great potential for the elucidation of gene function and complex regulatory pathways, and the identification of lead drug candidates for rare diseases and diseases of limited commercial interest. The rapid chemical turn-off of gene function addresses the concerns of compensatory/developmental changes in cell and animal models of gene deletion.


Complex Swaps Page

Credit Derivatives

Key concepts
Credit derivatives are instruments whose value is derived from that of an underlying bond, loan or other credit agreement.
They are used to assume or lay off credit risk in isolation from other types of risk.
The two main instruments are credit default swaps and total return swaps and they:

enable holders of credit risk, such as banks, to lay off the credit risk in their loan, bond and derivatives portfolios without having to sell the underlying credits upon which their relationships may be based. This makes true credit portfolio management possible.

are an alternative to asset swaps for institutions unable to buy high-quality assets for funding cost reasons, or unable to access the loan markets directly, to gain their desired credit exposure on an unfunded basis (or, if embedded in credit-linked notes, on a funded basis.)

provide a mechanism for BIS capital management as they allow banks to remove assets from their balance sheets particularly at key time regulatory capital requirements for banks are often calculated on peak credit exposure at the end of reporting periods and can attract lower regulatory capital than the cash equivalent.

allow synthetic assets to be created that do not exist in the markets.

allow corporates to hedge the credit exposures they have to other corporates via trade receivables and long-term purchase contracts and to their banks via long term trade financings, loan facilities such as revolving credits and swap and option portfolios.

allow corporates and banks to hedge against emerging market risk where guarantees are not available or export agency cover is expensive.

create a link between the bank and insurance markets vastly increasing the capacity of both to absorb credit risk. In sectors where corporate demand for insurance is so great that there is no more reinsurance capacity, insurance and reinsurance companies can use a default swap to go short the default risk of a basket of credits issued by entities in that sector so freeing up their lines in that sector. See chapter 16 for: credit-linked notes credit-spread linked notes, first to default bonds, repackaged notes, sovereign default notes

asset swap
A transaction which transforms the cashflows of a security through the application of one or more swaps. For example, bond coupons can be swapped from fixed to floating rate or vice versa; interest and principal can be swapped into a different currency; the yield from a security can be swapped for a cashflow based on an index in another asset class. An asset swap transaction involves three distinct steps: an asset is purchased for cash; the cash flows are swapped into the desired form; the package consisting of the asset and the swap(s) is held by the investor these are on-balance sheet items.
The most common type of asset swap is the par asset swap. Here the notional amount of the swap is equal to the face amount of the underlying asset. The asset is purchased for par and the investor receives par at maturity. The other vanilla asset swap is the market value asset swap. Here the notional amount of the swap is equal to the market value of the underlying asset at the time the trade is executed. See repackaged securities for an explanation of the link between vanilla asset swaps and true credit derivatives.
A number of important variations allow for more tailored transactions. Callable asset swaps and step-up callable asset swaps are used where the underlying asset is either callable or step-up callable. The swap matches the coupon and callable features of the underlying. They are also used in convertible asset swaps (also known as stripped convertibles/converts).
Here the underlying asset is a convertible bond. Typically a bank purchases a convertible and sells it to an investor for its fixed-income value. The investor then enters into a swap the asset swap with the bank exchanging the fixed-rate coupon payments on the convert for a floating rate. The swap agreement also contains an option giving the bank the right to call the bonds back at any time and so terminate the agreement (hence the asset swap is callable). The investor effectively holds a callable floating-rate note backed by the credit of the convertible issuer. He has given up the equity option embedded in the convertible the option has been 'stripped' from the convert in return for a higher spread on the swap. The bank now owns the equity component of the convertible as it can call the bonds to extract any appreciation in the value of the equity option.
Callable and puttable asset swaps are also used to take views on changes in credit spreads they are sometimes viewed as the first credit derivatives and in this context are often referred to as credit spread options (see below). Other structures include cross-currency asset swaps in which the coupon of the asset is swapped into a different currency; forward-[starting] asset swaps which can be used by investors wishing to take advantage of a steep credit curve for a specific issuer. These are also known as knock-out asset swaps as if the underlying asset defaults before the start date of the swap, the forward swap is cancelled; maturity-shortened asset swaps where the maturity of the swap is less than that of the underlying asset; and asset swaps can be combined with other options, such as caps, floors and collars, to give more tailored payoff profiles. See also switch asset swap .

Contingent credit risk
Indirect credit risk such as that embedded in assets hedged with currency swaps.
Example
The arrangers of bond repackagings face contingent credit risks. Suppose a bank can buy Brazilian Brady bonds cheaply in the US market but cannot sell them into Europe because of their unusual floating coupon and amortization schedules. It places them into a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and swaps them into fixed-rate Euro bullet bonds. The underlying bonds are placed in a trust and swapped using a cross-currency swap. Most SPV structures have triggers that force early redemption of the new bonds and the unwind of the SPV in the event that collateral levels fall below predetermined thresholds.So, if credit spreads rise, or in the extreme the bonds default, the swap has to be unwound as the structure is dismantled. If the dollar strengthens against the Euro the bank will lose money on the swap unwind. In an extreme case, the residual value of the bonds may not be enough to cover the shortfall, so there is a credit-related contingent foreign exchange risk. To cover this risk, the arranger could take out default protection on the underlying securities.
Similarly, banks run a quanto credit risk when cross currencies in an asset swap. For example: a bank takes a dollar-denominated asset and swaps it into yen using a cross-currency swap. If the underlying asset defaults and the swap is unwound there will be a windfall gain or loss on the swap. Bankers recall deals when USD/JPY traded at 250 that, if they defaulted at today's exchange rate, would incur windfall losses as large as the bond principal. One way to hedge is to take credit exposure in dollars and buy credit protection in yen. But the size of this hedge must be managed dynamically in the same way as the risks embedded in quanto instruments.

[Credit] default swap
A swap agreement in which one counterparty (the protection buyer, risk seller, hedger) pays a fixed periodic fee, usually expressed in basis points per annum on the notional amount, in return for a payment by the other counterparty (the protection seller, risk buyer, investor) contingent upon a specified default event relating to an underlying reference asset (a loan, bond, stream of trade receivables or derivative contract cash flows). While there is no default event, the protection buyer pays the swap counterparty the periodic coupon. If the specified credit event occurs there is an exchange of cash flows and/or securities designed so that the net payment to the protection buyer mirror the loss incurred by creditors of the reference credit in the event of its default. This exchange of cashflows usually follows one of three patterns depending on the liquidity and availability of the reference securities:

Cash-settled recovery value-linked payment: the protection seller pays the counterparty an amount calculated as the fall in the price of a reference security below par after default as established by polling reference dealers. So a typical cash settlement formula would be [(par - recovery value) x notional principal of swap]. The price of the reference asset can be determined either as an average determined over a three-month period or via a single poll.

Cash-settled binary payment: the protection seller pays the counterparty a predetermined fixed amount or pre-determined percentage of notional is payable. This structure is sometimes known as a digital credit swap. Because they are difficult to price and hedge digital credit swaps command a premium most hedgers consider too expensive. The economic effect of the transaction is to allow the holder of an exposure to a particular counterparty to transfer the risk of that counterparty's default to a third party without transferring the underlying asset itself. The third party the protection seller assumes the credit risk of the exposure in exchange for the return from it and so generates investment income with no funding costs. Credit default swaps with the same maturity as the underlying asset are equivalent to the underlying asset but with the interest rate risk immunized. That in turn means that they are the same as total return swaps (see below) with the interest rate risk immunized. Hence the pricing is directly comparable to asset swaps.

The periodic coupon is generally derived from the Libor spread received by an investor in the underlying obligation in the cash or asset swap market. The asset swap market spread is the benchmark because the default swap is an unfunded transaction. To replicate it in the cash market would require an investor to borrow the underlying bond through the repo markets. On average, repo financing for high-grade corporate assets is available at Libor flat, so the investor's spread on the trade is a spread to Libor. This arbitrage, where it is available, constrains the pricing of default swaps.
However, hedgers generally have to pay a premium to this Libor spread depending on the tenor of the swap and the liquidity of the underlying bond. The swap is generally less liquid than the underlying, which means investors demand more for taking the swap than they would the bond. On the other hand, as the transaction is unfunded, it gives institutions with high funding costs access to assets they would not normally be able to purchase without incurring negative carry. Default swaps are also often structured with maturities different to that of the underlying exposure. This creates synthetic investments that are not available in the cash markets. Both these factors can make the swap more desirable than a cash investment and drive the price down. In addition, in a credit default swap the protection buyer has a credit exposure to the protection seller contingent on the performance of the reference credit. If the seller defaults, the buyer must find alternative protection and will be exposed to changes in credit spreads since the inception of the original swap. So protection bought from higher-rated counterparties should command a higher price. Also, the protection buyer must also take into account the correlation between the risk of default of the seller and the hedged exposure. If there is a positive correlation, then default by the underlying borrower may imply that the swap counterparty's ability to deliver the notional value of the reference security is impaired. At worst this might means that the reference credit and protection seller default simultaneously in which case the buyer is unlikely to recover the full default payment due.
Credit default swap maturities usually run from three months to 10 years and transaction sizes range from USD5 million to USD300 million. Bid/offer spreads range from 50bp to 150bp. The main participants in the market are banks. Also known as a credit swap, and also, particularly if instead of paying a periodic fee the protection buyer pays a one-off upfront payment, as a [credit] default option. Strictly speaking though, since the swap contains no optionality, it is not a true option.

Credit default exchange swap
A type of default swap in which investors swap the default risk of one asset or basket of assets for that of another. Each party serves simultaneously as a protection buyer and a protection seller. These swaps are used mainly by commercial banks who want to hedge concentration risk in their loan portfolios in a single unfunded transaction without buying and selling packages of commercial loans.
Example
An investor seeks exposure to a loan yielding libor + 350 basis points that a double-A rated bank has made to a Turkish corporation. The investor enters into a total return swap with the bank - the total return payer under the terms of which it pays three-month Libor +100 basis points and receives Libor + 350 basis points plus or minus any change in the market price of the loan. If the loan's market value remains unchanged over the life of the contract, then the investor earns 250 bp on the transaction. However the investor bears both the price risk and any early repayment risk on the loan over the life of the agreement.

Credit spread
The yield of a security or loan less the yield of a corresponding risk free security. Plotting credit spreads the premium over the benchmark against bond maturity produces the credit curve for a borrower. In theory this margin compensates investors for the risk of default. In practice it is also affected by liquidity considerations and and number of other market factors. Credit spreads can be traded with credit spread forwards and options. The key variables in trading are the term structure and volatility of credit spreads. The forward credit spread is calculated as follows: the forward prices of the security and the risk free benchmark are calculated and converted to the corresponding forward yield. The forward credit spread is the forward security yield less the forward risk free rate.
In theory the credit spread should increase in line with increasing default risk and maturity. In practice, forward credit spreads increase in the case of a positively sloped yield curve but do not seem to reflect investor expectations. Forward credit spreads appear to be a poor indicator of future spot spreads and seem relatively more volatile than the underlying securities. This higher spread volatility reflects the absolute lower level of spread and the imperfect correlation between the yield on the security and the risk free rate.
Credit spread forward
Equivalent to a forward asset swap these are forward-starting transactions which enable credit spread trading/hedging at a future date. Credit spread forwards allow counterparties to express views on future credit spreads and benefit from a narrowing or widening of the credit spread between debt instruments. One application is therefore for borrowers wishing to lock in future borrowing costs without inflating their balance sheet today. In the case of a borrower hedging issuing costs the reference credit would also be the protection buyer which significantly increases the counterparty risk to the protection seller. Collateralization is being used to mitigate this risk.
Example
An investor wants to take advantage of steep forward credit curve by locking in wider spreads in the future than are available today. He identifies an eight-year emerging market bond that currently trades at Libor+70bp. Three-year bonds from the same issuer trade at 30bp over. At current market prices, by agreeing to buy the eight-year asset in three years' time an investor will lock in Libor plus 95bp for the remaining five years of its maturity 25bp more than eight-year assets today. The risk for the investor is that the issuer's credit fundamentals deteriorate over the the next three years and spreads widen by more than 25bp. However, the downside is limited by the fact that if the issuer defaults in the next three years then the investor does not have to buy the asset.

Credit spread option
Credit spread options are calls (puts) on a credit-sensitive asset with at a pre-determined strike price expressed as a spread to an index typically Libor or to government securities. They allow buyers to buy or sell the underlying asset at a pre-determined price for a pre-determined period of time. The buyer of a credit spread call profits if spreads tighten. The buyer of a put profits if spreads widen. The options are priced off the credit curve, expected credit spread volatility and expected recovery rates.
The reference asset is usually either a floating rate asset or a fixed-rate asset swapped into floating rate through an asset swap. Floating-rate reference assets are favoured because the floating coupon immunizes interest rate risk any change in the principal value of a floating-rate asset is largely due to changes in credit perception. This means that, in general, credit spread derivatives such as forwards and options are equivalent to forwards and options on an asset swap.
So, for example, a put seller would be put into an asset swap paying par for the asset. The seller would then pay the coupons on the asset and in return receive the pre-determined spread over the Libor (the strike spread). Because of this, credit spread options are equivalent to callable or puttable asset swaps and are sometimes known as asset swaptions.
Asset swap buyers can use these options to enhance yield by, for example, selling calls. This exchanges upfront premium income against the loss of upside if spreads tighten. Investors can also use combinations of calls and puts to lock in a current spread and transactions can be structured that allow investors to go long or short the spread between two different assets say two countries' sovereign debt or benchmark corporate bonds of different ratings or sectors. Institutional investors are now using credit spread options to slice up a credit into different tenors. A sophisticated credit risk player might buy a five-year bond and sell the first two years as a way of rolling down the credit curve.
Basket/portfolio spread options are also available in which the option is written on a basket of reference credits rather than just one. For example, in a basket credit spread put trade an investor increases its premium income by selling a number of puts, each linked to a particular security at a particular strike spread. The buyer has the right to exercise the seller into any one of the reference assets at its strike spread, in the full notional amount.
Example
Improvements in economic fundamentals in Hungary have created new credit lines. In the Asian credit crisis five-year paper went from 35bp over to as wide as 100bp. Spreads are now back at Libor + 40bp but some expect a retreat in the short run. An investor with a price target of Libor + 50bp can utilize its new credit line while waiting for prices to move to its entry level by writing one-year put options struck at the target spread. Typical terms would be that the investor receives 25bp running yield for giving the option counterparty the right to sell it bonds at the target spread. The income requires no balance sheet and no funding requirements. If the spread remains below Libor + 50 bp the investor has earned a premium of 25 bp multiplied by the notional principal of the contract which it can use to buy the bond at a price below market (if it wants). If the spread has risen above the target level then the option seller exercise their option to sell the bond at the strike spread and the investor buys the bonds at its strike spread plus the premium which is the originally targeted level. Alternatively the investor can settle the trade by paying the option seller the notional principal of the contract multiplied by the difference in basis points between the final spread and the strike spread. The higher the strike spread is above the current spread of the reference asset, the more the credit spread put resembles a credit default swap in which the investor pays a small periodic fee to buy protection against a large downward move in the price of the reference asset.

credit spread exchange swap
A swap in which counterparties swap the credit spreads of two reference securities. This allows them to take views on the relative spread between two comparable credit-sensitive securities.
Example
An investor wants to monetize the expectation that the credit spreads of Brazilian Brady bonds will narrow relative to those of Argentine Brady bonds. The investor chooses a spread exchange swap structure that produces a pay-off tied to the difference in the spreads of two Brady bonds. The trade uses the exchange of two absolute spreads pegged to a US Treasury to to capture the relative spread of two reference securities. the investor pays the dealer the notional amount multiplied by the credit spread between the Brazilian Brady bond and the US Treasury. In exchange, the dealer pays the investor the same notional amount multiplied by the credit spread between the Argentine Brady and the US Treasury. If the credit spread of the Brazilian bonds falls relative to that of the Argentine bonds , then the investor receives a payment from the dealer and vice versa. This kind of trade is normally structured so that no payment is made unless a change in the relative spread occurs.

First to default/basket default swap
A default swap in which there is not one but a basket of reference assets. The protection buyer pays a fixed periodic payment, usually expressed in basis points per annum on a predetermined notional principal.
The protection seller makes no payments unless some specified credit event relating to any one of the reference securities in the agreed portfolio occurs in which case the protection seller is obligated to make a payment based solely upon the defaulted security. In other words, the swap only pays out on the first default which occurs in the basket. Other defaults are not hedged. The investor receives a return approximately equal to the spread of the worst names in the basket plus an additional correlation dependent spread for each of the other names in the basket. The additional spread is based on the commitment fees on unfunded loans for those names.
These transactions started off with six or so reference assets and banks are now executing $1 billion-plus default swaps on a basket of between 30 and 50 credits. These larger deals are essentially the same as a privately placed unfunded collateralized loan obligation. This type of synthetic securitization has two key benefits over standard CLOs or credit-linked notes. First, it is cheap: because it is unfunded it allows a strong bank to maintain its sub-Libor funding spread. Second it is extremely flexible: as the assets remain on the banks balance sheet rather than being having to be transferred from different branches or legal entities into a special purpose vehicle which can cause internal, regulatory, legal and tax problems.
First to default swaps generate much higher returns than through a single investment in any of the other names. As long as the basket is diversified, the hedging institution lays off exposure more cheaply than hedging the names individually. Also known as basket/portfolio (credit) default swaps.

Market contingent credit derivative
Credit derivatives whose payout depends on the mark-to-market value of an underlying credit exposure and is contingent upon that value being negative. A hedger would determine its maximum expected exposure on a credit or group of credits (these could be securities or derivatives positions) if those credits were to default. It would then enter into a market contingent credit derivative with a notional amount equal to this exposure. The hedger pays a commitment fee say 15bp on the notional amount of the agreement unless the mark-to-market exposure on the interest rate or currency position becomes negative. In that case the institution pays the full hedging cost of the reference party but just on this negative amount. In the case of default, the buyer of the hedge would have protection equal to the unwind value of the underlying position. This is much cheaper than using a standard credit derivative because the hedger only pays for credit protection when it is needed when the mark-to-market value falls below zero. If the mark-to-market value remains positive, then the commitment fee paid will typically be around half the cost of fully hedging the underlying credit risk. See swap guarantee.

Mark-to-market cap
An interest rate hedge structure that puts an upper limit on the mark-to-market loss of a swap or a swap portfolio. The portfolio version gives the client to enter into a portfolio of offsetting swaps at any reset period over a chosen period, at strikes that ensure that the mark-to-market loss will not exceed a predetermined amount. The premium depends on the underlying parameters of the swap portfolio: tenors, notional amounts, strikes, correlations and embedded option features. Protection on a portfolio basis is cheaper than buying caps on the individual swaps.
Example
A corporate treasurer may have a series of interest rate swaps on his books, hedging a variety of underlying debt obligations. This treasurer was previously not required to mark his swaps to market, but recent accounting changes force him to. In this case, he wants to limit any adverse bottom line effects. Suppose he has a portfolio of five receive-fixed swaps maturing at different dates between October 1996 and October 1998 which currently show a mark-to-market loss of $4 million. A mark-to-market cap would provide the company with an option to enter into pay-fixed swaps at any rate reset date over the next 12 months exactly offsetting the existing swaps in the portfolio and locking in a loss of $4.5 million. Alternatively the options could be cash-settled. The cap premium can be paid upfront or on a periodic basis.

Recovery rate
The percentage of par paid to creditors after a default. This is an important concept in credit derivatives because it can dictate the pricing and structure of a number of products.
Example
One bank is willing to take exposure to a credit at the senior unsecured level at a spread of 40bp. Another bank with this existing exposure is willing to sell this exposure at the same spread. However, the first bank considers the likely recovery rate for the credit to be 50% while the second thinks that it is 70%.
The two institutions may enter into a credit swap in which the contingency payment is fixed at 50%, rather than at the floating recovery rate of senior unsecured debt as determined by dealer poll. The second bank, the protection buyer, is prepared to pay up to 40 x 50/30 bp (67bp) for the fixed recovery contract since it offers more protection than the floating recovery contract given the bank's recovery rate expectation of 70% (50/30 is the ratio of expected losses in the fixed versus floating recovery transaction). Conversely, the first bank is happy to receive any premium over 40bp for the 50% fixed recovery transaction since in its view this is equivalent to the floating recovery transaction. A transaction completed at, say, 55bp, would leave both institutions happy given their divergent recovery rate views.

Reference asset
The underlying assets on whose price or status a credit derivative is based. Reference assets can take almost any form including government bonds, Brady bonds, Eurobonds, MTNs, loans,.letters of credit, trade receivables, receivables due under derivative agreements, CBOs, mortgages, indices and funds.

Sovereign risk guarantee [option]
An option that gives the holder the right to demand delivery of a pre-determined amount of hard currency to a bank account in a country with no exchange controls in exchange for the local currency of a particular sovereign at the prevailing exchange rate in the event of a pre-determined credit event. This event is usually defined in terms of foreign exchange controls or non-convertibility.
Sovereign risk guarantees are used to hedge a counterparty's business risk in a country rather than investment risk in a security. Countries can suspend foreign-exchange convertibility without defaulting on any specifiable reference asset. This makes credit swaps imperfect hedges against many forms of sovereign risk. Even though the imposition of currency controls would likely lower any sovereign borrower's credit standing in investors' eyes, which would increase the value of a credit swap, the basis risk would be too large to make the hedge usable. The sovereign risk guarantee lets the protection buyer transfer money out of a country even if it has declared non-convertibility or non-transferability.
The protection seller may simply be an institution that wishes to be paid a premium for assuming non-convertibility risk. However they can also be entities such as local banks or local or foreign corporates who need local currency regardless of convertibility. In particular, corporations that have entered into joint venture agreements that specify local investment at specified future dates could write sovereign risk options against an underlying position to gain a premium.
The options are priced off the sovereign's outstanding hard currency obligations of the same tenor as this is the investment alternative and carries equivalent risks. The option will be more expensive because it is illiquid. Transaction sizes typically range between USD5 million and USD20 million with tenors up to 12 months. These products are almost always embedded in short-dated credit-linked limited recourse notes. These are denominated in hard currency but pay out in local currency if specified credit events occur (see chapter 16).

Structured repo
Flexible repo agreements that create financing and investment vehicles that are more efficient than those available in the traditional repo market. Investors can use cancellable repos and convertible repos to set initial financing rates well below those available on the plain vanilla market. They can also achieve better risk-adjusted returns by using reverse structured repos to hedge credit risk on emerging market bonds.
Example
An investor can achieve collateralized above-market, double-A rated returns using a reverse structured repo to finance a single-B rated Ecuadorian sovereign bond for a double-A rated bank counterparty. The investor pays cash for the bond at the trade date and at maturity it resells the bond to the bank at par. In the interim the investor holds the bond on its balance sheet for a year and earns superior risk-adjusted returns by exchanging the credit risk of the single-B rated bond for the double-A rated counterparty risk of the bank counterparty.

Swap guarantee
A credit swap whose notional principal is adjusted in line with the mark-to-market value of a reference swap (or other market sensitive instrument) and with a contingent payment triggered by default on that swap. The main use of these products is to manage credit risk in cross-currency swap portfolios.
The problem swap counterparties face is that the projected exposure on a swap can vary enormously throughout the life of a swap. Take a 10-year $100 million notional yen/dollar currency swap with principal exchange initiated in May 1990. At inception, prevailing rates implied a maximum exposure at maturity of $125 million. five years later, as the yen strengthened and interest rates dropped, that maximum exposure had risen to $220 million. Three years' later and it has fallen again by almost $100 million. This exposure is exacerbated if the counterparty's credit quality is correlated to the level of the yen and/or to interest rate movements. A lender in a currency that has experienced depreciation and rising interest rates will be out of the money on the swap and could be a weaker credit.
The swap guarantee hedges the exposure between margin calls on collateral posting. Alternatively it can be structured to cover any loss beyond a pre-agreed amount. The buyer will only incur default losses if the swap counterparty and the protection seller default. This means that the credit quality of the buyer's position is compounded to a level better than the quality of either of its individual counterparties.

Switch[able] asset swap
An asset swap in which the buyer sells a counterparty (usually the dealer from whom the asset swap was bought) the right to substitute the underlying asset with another asset (or any one of a basket of pre-specified assets) on particular dates usually at a spread higher than the prevailing market level. The embedded option is a spread option between the substitutable securities.
At the initiation of the transaction all the underlying assets will be of the same duration and credit quality and so ought to move together in price with changes in interest rates. The main reason for any spread change is therefore due to a change in perceptions of credit quality. The counterparty exercises his option to substitute if one of the basket declines in credit standing versus the asset that is asset swapped at the beginning of the transaction. These swaps are used to enhance the yield of vanilla asset swaps. Also known as a basket asset swap. See basket credit spread option.
Example
An investor with a funding cost of Libor+10bp wants to buy an asset swap trading at Libor+10bp. It sells an option under which it agrees to deliver the Libor+10bp asset to the counterparty in return for another asset. This asset is either the cheapest to deliver from a basket or is a pre-specified security. In the latter case, the counterparty can deliver the new asset at a spread 15bp worse than the prevailing market level. The premium received for the sale of this option is 10bp. The investor receives enhanced yield in return for the credit risk on the new asset. The option buyer has hedged for less than the cost of a standard default swap.

Total return swap
An agreement that allows a counterparty to transfer the total economic risk both credit risk and market risk of an underlying asset or portfolio of assets to another counterparty without transferring the asset itself. (A default swap transfers only credit risk to the counterparty.) The holder of an asset wishing to hedge exposure to that asset pays the total return (all interim cash flows and any change in positive mark-to-market value) of a reference asset and (usually) receives Libor plus a fixed spread and any capital depreciation from the other counterparty. Price appreciation or depreciation may be calculated and exchanged at maturity or on an interim basis. Total return swaps can be cash settled on the basis of a final mark-to-market value of through physical delivery at maturity in which case the total return receiver pays the previous mark-to-market price of the asset or portfolio in exchange for the actual securities. Eligible assets are those with liquidity and observable prices.
Pricing depends on a number of factors: the cost of funds for the short counterparty; balance sheet constraints the short counterparty may have the assets on its balance sheet with the associated capital charges; credit risk both the riskiness of the asset as well as that of the long counterparty are considered. Several methods can be employed to mitigate the risk of the transaction including triggered collateral accounts, up front buffer collateral accounts and daily mark-to-market.
As with the credit default swap there is no exchange of principal and ownership and funding of the underlying asset is unchanged. If the swap maturity matches that of a reference loan or bond asset it is simply a synthetic version of the bond or loan that allows the holder to go long or short easily and without funding. If it is not, then the swap is a synthetic asset that may not exist in the market.
Total return swaps can be structured on all the same asset classes as other derivatives. They are used by investors to go long or short securities or instruments that are difficult to obtain, that they cannot purchase in the form in which they are traded in the cash market or whose form is too complex for them to analyze. They also offer unfunded so leveraged exposure to the underlying. Total return receivers lock in term financing rates and total return payers effectively sell an asset without ownership having changed hands. This makes them analogous to repurchase agreement and some banks characterize certain types of repos for example those on emerging market debt as credit-linked total return swaps. The main difference is that in a total return swap the underlying securities are not exchanged whereas in a repo transaction they are. This transfer of economic benefit without effecting a legal sale of the underlying asset can be advantageous for capital gains tax reasons. (See structured repo.)
Total return swaps are also used by banks to keep assets off their balance sheets. Instead of borrowing to fund the purchase of assets, a bank that wants exposure to a particular asset enters into a total return swap with a counterparty (sometimes called the warehouse or balance sheet provider) willing to buy the bonds. The balance sheet provider a bank or large corporate effectively funds the position of the investing bank which then pays the funding costs to them and receives a spread. If the originator of the transaction is itself balance sheet constrained, such as an investment bank, then it will buy the underlying bonds and then repo them out to the final balance sheet provider.
Example
An investor seeks exposure to a loan yielding libor + 350 basis points that a double-A rated bank has made to a Turkish corporation. The investor enters into a total return swap with the bank the total return payer under the terms of which it pays three-month Libor +100 basis points and receives Libor + 350 basis points plus or minus any change in the market price of the loan. If the loan's market value remains unchanged over the life of the contract, then the investor earns 250 bp on the transaction. However the investor bears both the price risk and any early repayment risk on the loan over the life of the agreement.


WASHINGTON ― The election of Donald Trump sent shock waves throughout the world, most notably in countries like Mexico and China that the president-elect made whipping posts during his campaign.

But scores of other countries are also closely watching the new administration, including nations like Ecuador that have a sizable number of citizens living in the United States.

“Concerns, of course we have, because we’re not deaf and we listened to the campaign and we heard a lot of things that are troublesome, particularly when those things affect our Ecuadorian citizens in the United States,” Guillaume Long, Ecuador’s minister of foreign affairs and human mobility, told The Huffington Post in an interview last Thursday.

Long emphasized, however, that Ecuador respects the results of the U.S.’s democratic elections.

“We’re gonna have the best of attitudes. After the 20th of January, we’re going to have the best predisposition to work with the new administration,” he said.

Long was visiting the United States to promote Ecuador’s plans to crack down on tax shelters and mark the start of Ecuador’s term as leader of the G-77 bloc of developing nations at the United Nations. On Friday, Long traveled to Connecticut to meet with members of the Ecuadorian-American community.

Some 1 million of the 3 million Ecuadorians living abroad live in the U.S., Long said. And between 20 and 25 percent of these Ecuadorians are undocumented immigrants, he estimated.

Ecuador not only grants its citizens living in foreign countries the right to vote in elections, it also sets aside six seats in its national assembly for these emigrants.

In addition, remittances from these Ecuadorians are a significant source of cash for the country’s economy. In 2015, Ecuadorians living abroad sent $2.4 billion back to Ecuador ― and more than $1 billion from the United States alone.

That makes Trump’s promise to ramp up deportations of undocumented immigrants both a political and economic worry for the Ecuadorian government.

As a result, the Trump administration’s immigration policy is among the biggest of the Ecuadorian government’s “concerns.”

Long alluded to Trump’s plans to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep out immigrants.

“I think a lot of people in the world have concerns ― a lot of people in Latin America, a lot of my colleagues, are nervous about it,” he said. “We’ve been talking about less walls and more bridges.”


Did you know that the use of email predates the invention of the internet?

Electronic messages were being sent over the wire a long time before computer networks existed. In fact, email paved the way for the internet as we know it today.

Why you can’t trust email

When you read a message in your inbox, should you trust that the information hasn’t been tampered with or that it even comes from who it claims?

Sadly, email wasn’t designed with security in mind. The paradigm it is based on is that of a peer-to-peer network – messages are passed from server to server in plaintext (no encryption) until they reach their destination.

So even though you connect to your email provider securely to download your mail (normally using SSL/TLS security), there is nothing to stop your private communications being intercepted in transit.

Unlike other internet messaging (instant messengers or social media messaging), there are no central servers which control and govern the delivery of email, which can result in problems such as email spoofing (sending an email which is deliberately made to appear as if it is coming to be from someone else).

Despite this, communications made by email can still be legally binding and can be used in a court of law (for example, Naldi v Grunberg).

So how can you securely send emails, making sure that:

the recipient is convinced that it comes from you;

no one except the intended recipient can read the message; and

there’s no chance that someone could have tampered with the content of the message before it reaches its destination?

In 1991, Phil Zimmerman published a program called PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) which ensures all three of these things.

(In fact, it did such a good job of providing an easy way to send secure messages over email that Zimmerman became the target of a criminal investigation by the US government. It was deemed at the time that making software which provided such strong security outside of the US counted as “exporting arms” and violated US munitions export regulations.)

Encrypt email to make it trustworthy

Luckily, PGP, and similar software using the OpenPGP standard (such as GPG), is now legally available in most countries and is an excellent solution for securing email. A high level of security is provided by encrypting messages and digitally signing messages.

Encryption provides confidentiality – the contents of a message are protected so that it can only be read by the intended recipient.

A digital signature provides authentication of messages so that the recipient can be sure that it does actually come from you.

First invented by mathematicians Ellis, Cocks and Williamson in 1973 at GCHQ (and independently developed by Diffie and Hellman in 1976), public-key algorithms use a mathematical ‘trapdoor’ function to allow for asymmetric encryption of messages. That is to say, how you encrypt and decrypt a message is different.

This means anyone can encrypt a message – or analogously verify a digital signature as legitimate – with the ‘public’ part of the cryptographic key, but only the sole individual can decrypt a message – or digitally sign a message – using their secret ‘private’ part of the key.

How it works

Alice wants to securely email Bob without the chance that Eve could read or tamper with her message, and she wants Bob to be convinced that it does indeed come from her.

A simple demonstration (how the actual protocols work is slightly more involved, but the gist is the same) of how a PGP-like program would work is as follows:

First, Alice’s computer looks up Bob’s public key in a key-server, which acts like a massive address book, and encrypts the message using his public key.

Second, her own private key is used to add a digital signature to the message which is then sent to Bob.

Third, Bob’s computer then decrypts the message using his private key, and verifies the digital signature using Alice’s public key, similarly obtained from a key-server.

So the question is: how does Alice know that the public key for Bob – the one she has obtained from the key-server – is legitimate, and not a phony placed there by Eve instead?

The key part of this mechanism to ensure the legitimacy of public keys is called the web of trust.

This is an alternative to the public key infrastructure (PKI) model used by websites to issue SSL security certificates for use with HTTPS.

The idea is as follows: assume Alice and Bob have a mutual friend Charlie who they both trust. Charlie can vouch for both Alice and Bob because he knows them personally, and can verify the identity of them and their associated public keys. Charlie signs each of their public keys with his own. As Charlie trusts Bob, and Alice trusts Charlie (perhaps Alice has signed Charlie’s public key), this allows Alice to trust the authenticity of Bob’s public key.

While this sounds pretty unfeasible and is not without problems, it is actually very effective in allowing secure communications (with PGP systems or otherwise) without the need for expensive security certificates like those used by websites.

In fact, people even meet up at organised events known as ‘key signing parties’ to check each other’s identities and sign keys to allow this web of trust to propagate.

So why is email security of this sort not much more widespread? I’d guess it’s a combination of feasibility and awareness primarily. It’s not always that straight forward to start using public key encryption for email, and keeping your private key secure can be tricky when you are accessing emails from multiple devices. Moreover, knowledge of the downfalls of email perhaps aren’t as well-known as we would like them to be!

For domestic purposes, only those determined to safeguard their right to online privacy would want to be bothered with using these systems as routine. For businesses, however, designing email security policy is a much more delicate task in balancing cost and risk. Perhaps ISPs and email providers should be doing more to make widespread adoption of email security easier.

And maybe a key signing party would be a tad overkill for firing off a quick message to your boss to let them know you’ll be late to work, but it does provide the security assurances that email so badly lacks.

So next time a website informs you that they have ‘securely’ sent you a password reminder, consider how secure this actually is!

About the author

Julian Bhardwaj is currently a student at the University of Warwick studying for an undergraduate degree in Discrete Mathematics. As a self confessed crypto-geek, he has a passion for all things security related.

10 comments on “Email: the forgotten security problem”

All fine and good but PGP and S/MIME secure e-mail have been around for a long time and they haven’t been widely adopted. Usability and support for these approaches stinks so they failed in the marketplace.

I have insisted on using encrypted mail with all of my professional associates since 1998. It has been like pulling teeth. It has taken great effort just to get them to use encrypted mail; had I insisted on Web-of-Trust notarized identity trusting, I wouldn't have been able to communicate via email. No one else (besides myself) was willing to get their certs identity-trusted. I even became a Web of Trust notary. In the last 14 years I've had three requests for identity trusting. Clearly, the ignorance on this subject is epidemic.

I applaud Sophos' efforts to educate folks on the subject of encrypted mail, but it will be a long, uphill battle. People resist it. I don't know why they resist it; it's not rational to resist it. I mean, "OF COURSE you would want your communications to be secure…er, right?" Nope…evidently not. Against all reason, people don't seem to want to bother with securing their email communication. The mind stops.

I lay part of the blame at the feet of Internet service providers (ISPs) who provide mail servers. It seems to me that they have a high proprietary interest in secure communications. If they required their users to sign their messages, it would severely decrease the amount of spam, which is unsigned. (I doubt most spammers would sign their garbage with identity-trusted signatures.) At least, I've never received any spam that was signed.

ISPs should educate their users about the benefits of secure email, and should make it easy for users to get free PKCS certs. It would solve many problems, not the least of which is reducing the torrent of spam.

The e-mail encryption solutions that get used are those that use a portal approach. You send the e-mail to anyone. The e-mail is automatically encrypted and stored on the portal. the recipient get’s a notification and has to visit the portal and register, if they haven’t already, using the e-mail address used by the sender.

You also see this is file transfer technologies now. A business can setup a Managed File Transfer product that strips attachments of e-mails automatically and encrypts them on a portal site. The recipient has to login to the portal through a browser and SSL and retrieve the document. Alternatively, if someone wants to send someone in a company a document securely, they visit the company’s portal, enter the recipient’s address and attach the document.

I believe that part of the problem stems from the way providers of email applications and services like to 'convince' users, or potential users, that their system/service is already 'secure' when it clearly is not.
Many users are not sufficiently 'savvy' on security issues on computers systems and networks so they tend to accept what the vendor tells them, even if it is purely 'marketing speak' with little or no substantiable facts behind it.
If it were made a requirement that some form of PGP, or similar, security signing were used then we might have a safer email experience. Some 'secure areas of activity' (some related to governmental services and some to commercial activities) already require a much more secure form of rapid communication and rarely use email.

The fact is that email is terribly insecure but that insecurity doesn't result in a big penalty for end users most of the time. Or if it does those users are blissfully unaware.

The fact is that trying to get PKI working effectively (I don't mean effective technically I mean effective so that all the people you actually want to talk to are using it) is enormously more painful currently than the consequences of lack of security.

The exception that proves the rule is spam from spoofed senders. That is a result of the insecure nature of email and it does have material, visible, consequences for end users. As such a ton of time, money and effort has been thrown at spam filters and things like spf to straighten out the mess.

Just a little clarification. The article opens by acknowledging that email has existed since before " the internet as we know it today." (which usually means www,) And then goes to describe problems relating to a single type of email, that transmitted via SMTP across IP based wide area networks, but doesn't clarify this – indeed, by saying "Sadly, email wasn't designed with security in mind" you are tarring all email technologies with the same brush!

Much email before SMTP /was/ pretty secure – e.g. in 1980s' Britain, Prestel and Telecom Gold worked by having a centrally held messaging service. The sender details were added automatically and it never left their network. Even the likes of AOL and CompuServe, later on, worked in a similar fashion, as did any centrally operated service.

Many operations these days trying to circumvent the problems with SMTP are returning to this model of operation – hold the mail in one place, and make everyone connect directly in a manner that they can be validated.

"People don't encrypt their emails, because they aren't well informed!!" fixed.

Instead of hotmail telling us how to flag emails, how about putting step by step email together on how to encrypt and put it on a annual cycle to be sent to every hotmail account instead of throwing ads in our face and telling us what the next feature hotmail will have that no one will really use!!


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Activities

Aiguille Verte climbing course - Whymper Couloir

« Climbing Aiguille Verte makes an alpinist become a mountaineer ! » These famous words were pronounced by Gaston Rébuffat. They undoubtedly contributed to the fame of this legendary peak.

From the village of les Praz one can easily admire the Aiguille Verte, definitely one of the most elegant and imposing peak of the Mont Blanc massif and throughout the Alps!

It was first conquered by the famous British alpinist Edward Whymper, accompanied by his Swiss guides Christian Almer and Franz Biner, on the 29th of June, 1865. One hundred and forty six years later, the Whymper Couloir is still considered to be “ the normal route » to the summit.

According to the legend, Whymper had previously climbed to a sub-peak on Grandes Jorasses - “Pointe Whymper” -in order to get a good view over the Verte and the obvious couloir. Only a few days later Edward Whymper successfully reached the summit of the Verte, via the Whymper couloir.

On Grandes Jorasses, he was probably intensively focused on the Verte , and didn’t care about the true and still virgin summit of Grandes Jorasses, - Pointe Walker -.

First of all we hike up Mer de Glace , then climb up a series of steep and airy ladders to access the trail that leads to the Couvercle mountain hut (2687m) . After a short night, an early start is necessary to climb the couloir, which faces South and warms up very early in the day. A large part of the ascent is therefore by night. Parties will greet the sun only once high up and close to the summital ridge line.

The grade for this long and snowy couloirs varies from 45° to 55°. The descent is rather committing due to exposure. An early start is fundamental as it will allow a safe descent.

Difficulty: this route requires a very good level of fitness, and a solid mountaineering experience. (ie. climbed several AD routes with good cramponing skills)

Ski touring skills are recommanded.

DATES : On Mondays, from mid April to Mid JulyPlease feel free to contact us anytime to check the conditions !

Due to the consecutive hot and dry past summers, dates for this course happen earlier than other courses. This course is in best condition during the spring, when snow and icing conditions are still good.

PRICE 2017: 2900 € per person

Including:

- Organization and supervision by a State qualified high mountain guide

- Lifts

- Midday picnics

- Half board accommodation in mountain huts.

Not included :

-Personal equipment

-Accommodation in Chamonix.

-Rapatriation insurance

For any further information, feel free to contact Flore: +33 4 50 53 00 88 or by email


MSP calls for expansion of hydro power to help meet climate change targets

26 October 2017

MSP David Stewart, Labour’s Environment and Climate Change Shadow Minister, highlighted Highland’s record of achievement in hydro power at an energy debate, calling for an expansion to meet climate change targets.

At the Scottish Government’s Hydro Nation debate in Parliament this afternoon (Thursday), Mr Stewart said hydro power was a key renewable that helped reduce reliance on imported gas and coal while increasing diversity of generation mix.

He said it was time for a fresh hydro revolution, explaining hydro was cheap when oil costs $51.47 a barrel, and its operating costs were one tenth of those of gas-fired or coal-fired stations.

“The lights might not go out all over Edinburgh but, if we get the energy balance wrong, in the next decade we will be paying over a barrel or indeed, over a therm of gas to countries with the political stability of Burma and the civil liberties record of Zimbabwe,” said Mr Stewart, who represents the Highlands and Islands.

He explained the first public supply of hydro power was at the former Benedictine Abbey in Fort Augustus, on Loch Ness-side, to 800 inhabitants in 1890.

In 1896 a hydropower station was built in Foyers by the British Aluminium Company. Around 1900, a large hydropower station was basically responsible for the development of the village of Kinlochleven.

“As members will also be aware, Tom Johnston, Labour’s Secretary of State for Scotland under Winston Churchill, created a network of dams and transmission towers that produced electricity to poor highlanders for the first time” he said.

“The Labour Government of 1945 nationalised hydro power. At the time it was estimated that only one farm in six and one croft in 100 had electricity. Today virtually every home has mains electricity.”

Mr Stewart explained that by the 1960s the Highlands had changed beyond all recognition due to new dams on larger lochs.

Now Scotland has 85% of UK’s hydropower capacity, which could power 1 million homes but there are severe limiting factors.

Mr Stewart called for development in pumped electricity storage, in run-of-the-river developments and streamlining of the planning processes.

“We all know that the task is great but Scotland has both the opportunities and skills necessary.

Sustainable development of hydropower can be a crucial contribution to meeting our global climate change responsibilities.

"With the appropriate development, the right technology and the proven skills of our workforce Scotland can take the lead in Europe and beyond,” he said.


How To Make Self Care A Daily Part Of Your Life

Life’s daily grind wears us all down over time, and in recovery it’s tough to keep an eye on sobriety when there’s so much going on.

I’ve been working on my sobriety for a few years now and have had phases where I could abstain from unwanted sexual behaviors for long periods of time, just because I was too busy with school or just had too much going on.

I would be proud of myself for the number of days that I had “made it” and would end up relapsing and fall into the cycle of guilt, shame, a quick Tawbah, and then back to “normal”. Often, I would run away from my support system just because I knew I would have to actually do some soul-work to figure out what was really going on. (I was, and still am, terrified of that).

But one of the main tools that Ustadh Zeyad and my friends here in PYG always advised and used as a sobriety-gauge was self-care. I would scoff at the notion of finding ways to take care of myself and actually do those things.

I wasn’t a believer in this thing called ‘self-care’. I didn’t think it was important because I saw it more as facilitating my own selfish behavior. I would challenge others in the program, even Ustadh Zeyad, about the purpose of self-care and what difference would it make. But in the end, I gave up fighting this war of ‘to self-care, or not to self-care’ just because I was tired of arguing and not finding any progress with my own formula to sober living.

Understanding “Self-Care”

The first step for me was to really understand what self-care was: what actions constitute self-care and where was I mentally supposed to be for it to work.

To put it simply, self-care for me is anything you do that helps you connect more with yourself and helps build a safe place within for healing. It’s taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others.

It can be the time you take to be more present during the day, treating yourself for something “small”, journaling, or just having a nice warm meal to comfort yourself from the storm you’re in.

The amount of self-care you need can vary, based on how you’re feeling, stress, how busy you are, etc. I’ve found that the times when I think of self-care as a to-do list, or just something I need to get done, are the times when I’m unknowingly edging closest to the deep end (relapse).

The Self Care Cup

As I was slowly allowing myself to accept the positives of self-care, I decided that having it as part of my to-do list was not the way to go. With encouragement from Ustadh Zeyad, I began using a self-care cup.

I brainstormed and searched the internet for different self-care actions that I considered fun but realistic and wrote them down. On little slips of paper, I wrote each one individually and made the slip visually appealing by adding in some cartoons, writing in bubbles versus print, or just coloring in a background to each item.

I wanted to give each item some time as a way of investing myself more into the idea of building self-care into my life. With the slips completed, I folded them up and put them in a cup.

The plan was to take a slip out every morning and do what it said before going to bed that night. If I wasn’t up to doing what one slip said, I gave myself two more draws and then had to select an item from there. It was fun because they were all things that I had chosen beforehand, so there wouldn’t be any rotten eggs, but I also didn’t know if the slip would push me out of my comfort zone for a bit that day. There was an adventure to be had with every slip.

Twists And Turns Along The Journey

When the self-care cup was born, the cup I used was generic and held no importance to me and because of some twists along my journey, I abandoned the self-care cup altogether.

Recently, I’ve come back to it because it worked for me before and I need to get back on the stepping stones that were leading me forward.

We all are on different journeys, working toward living authentically and there are going to be bumps in the road. Leaning on self-care and using this silly cup to keep on track has been helpful in its practicality but also liberating.

The small daily self-care rituals force me to put away my “too busy” shield and connect with all of me: the addict, the quiet child, the daughter, the sister, the student, the friend, the bully, the rebel, the adventurer, and the woman in recovery.

Connecting and taking care of myself has carved out a place where I can be safe and find the gentleness, joy, and compassion that I need as I journey slowly through recovery.

What are some things in my cup?

Unplug today

Make something with Nat Geo pictures

Read a poem

Free yourself: forgive others. Don’t hold the weight of their hurting you today.

Hameeda

Sr. Hameeda is a long time member of the Purify Your Gaze Community, since 2011. She has been through the Breaking Free Program as well as group coaching with Zeyad Ramadan. This article was featured in the Inside The Community Newsletter, Edition 6.

Purify Your Gaze is the safe-place where Muslims struggling with pornography and sex addiction can find acceptance, guidance, and healing as they aspire towards a life of sexual purity and intimate connections, grounded in the deep surrender to God.
We aim to share ideas and thought-provoking content on a wide range of topics: including the effects of pornography and sexual addiction, healing from trauma, recovery principles for those seeking change, personal accounts of Muslims in recovery, and a new paradigm for healthy sexuality, relationships and intimacy as inspired by our Islamic traditions.


The roasting of garlic is often performed to provide seasoning for cooking, or the preparation of spreads for food such as bread. The roasting operation is performed at relatively high temperatures and often includes the step of basting the garlic. When baked, garlic mellows and softens. The roasted garlic takes on a slightly sweet taste and spreads like butter.
Commercially available garlic roasters do not allow for easy basting of garlic during the roasting process. A typical garlic roaster 100, as illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a cover 102 which is placed over bottom plate 104. The cover has a hollow interior 106 and an optional vent hole 108. To roast a clove of garlic, the clove is placed on the bottom plate and covered with cover 102. The roaster is then placed in an oven. The garlic can be basted with a baste such as olive oil or butter. To accomplish this basting, the garlic must be basted prior to heating, or the cover 102 must be removed during the roasting process. Neither of these options is ideal. The garlic is preferably basted while warm. The roasting operation, however, must be interrupted and the hot cover removed to accomplish a basting operation while the garlic is warm.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a garlic roaster which allows garlic to be basted while remaining covered during the roasting operation.


Q:

why pointer to function type is absent in the list of deducible type

template<typename T>
struct Test{};

template<typename Ret, typename...Args>
struct Test<Ret(*)(Args...)>{
    using type = int;
};
void func(int){}
int main(){
  Test<decltype(&func)>::type b;
}

If type P is Ret(*)(Args...) and the corresponding argument type A is void(*)(int), the deduction attempt to deduce template argument from A, however such form is not listed in the following list which specifies the what form of type can be deduced.
temp.deduct.type#8

A template type argument T, a template template argument TT or a template non-type argument i can be deduced if P and A have one of the following forms:

T
cv-list T
T*
T&
T&&
T[integer-constant]
template-name  (where template-name refers to a class template)
type(T)
T()
T(T)
T type::*
type T::*
T T::*
T (type::*)()
type (T::*)()
type (type::*)(T)
type (T::*)(T)
T (type::*)(T)
T (T::*)()
T (T::*)(T)
type[i]
template-name  (where template-name refers to a class template)
TT
TT
TT<>

The list specifies so much however pointer to function type is absent, only function type such as T(T)   is comprised, so why a pointer to function type is absent in this list, such type should be deducible.

A:

A pointer-to-function type Ret(*)(Args...) is nothing but a T* where T is Ret(Args...).
Edit: further examination has proven that this is not sufficient.


Quick Overview

The bizarre and unique design of the Eclipse lens features a thin white circle around the edge of the iris to highlight an opaque pool of blackness. Its clear pupil allows for maximum visibility. The Eclipse design seemingly enhances the size of your pupils giving you a totally freaky look!

Details

The bizarre and unique design of the Eclipse lens features a thin white circle around the edge of the iris to highlight an opaque pool of blackness. Its clear pupil allows for maximum visibility. The Eclipse design seemingly enhances the size of your pupils giving you a totally freaky look!


Gsdma3 mutation causes bulge stem cell depletion and alopecia mediated by skin inflammation.
Primary cicatricial alopecias (PCAs) are a group of permanent hair loss disorders, of which the pathogenesis is still poorly understood. The alopecia and excoriation (AE) mouse strain is a dominant mutant generated from ethyl nitrosourea mutagenesis. AE mice exhibit a progressive alopecia phenotype similar to that seen in PCAs, resulting from a point mutation in the gasdermin A3 gene. Mutant mice begin to show alopecia on the head from postnatal day 22 and experience complete hair loss by the age of 6 months, along with hyperkeratosis and catagen delay. The results of a histological examination showed that bulge stem cells in AE skin are gradually depleted, as indicated by decreased keratin 15 and CD34 expression, and reduced bromodeoxyuridine label-retaining cells in the AE bulge. In addition, AE mice display an inflammatory condition in the skin from postnatal day 7, including elevated tumor necrosis factor-α and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 mRNA levels and significantly increased macrophages and dendritic cell number. Immune privilege in the bulge was also compromised in AE skin. Consistently, after treatment with the immunosuppressive agent, cyclosporine A, immune privilege collapse, stem cell destruction, and alopecia phenotype of AE mice were all rescued. Collectively, our data demonstrate that immune-mediated destruction of bulge stem cells plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of alopecia in AE mice, and this strain might be an interesting model for PCAs, especially for lichen planopilaris.


Q:

Check if an external program is the active window

I am making a form that uses the on screen keyboard and also I want the form to be closed if there is a click event outside of it.
To do so I used the dectivate event, but if I click on the on screen keyboard the deactivate event will be triggered for the form. So I am asking if there is a way to detect if the osk is the active window in order to put an if condition to not close the form in this case for the deactive event.
Is there any way to do so or a different way to manage the situation?

A:

You can use Platform Invocation (P/Invoke for short) to access the WinAPI functions GetForegroundWindow() and GetWindowThreadProcessId().
You can use GetForegroundWindow() in order to get the window handle of the currently focused/active window, then call GetWindowThreadProcessId() to get the process ID of that window. You can then use that ID to get an instance of the .NET Process class, with which you can easily access the process's name, etc.
To start with create a class called NativeMethods. In here we will declare all P/Invoked functions:
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices

Public NotInheritable Class NativeMethods
    Private Sub New() 'Private constructor as we're not supposed to create instances of this class.
    End Sub

    <DllImport("user32.dll")> _
    Public Shared Function GetForegroundWindow() As IntPtr
    End Function

    <DllImport("user32.dll")> _
    Public Shared Function GetWindowThreadProcessId(ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, <Out()> ByRef lpdwProcessId As UInteger) As UInteger
    End Function
End Class

Then you can make a function in your code that uses these to get the active process:
Public Function GetActiveProcess() As Process
    Dim hWnd As IntPtr = NativeMethods.GetForegroundWindow()
    Dim ProcessID As UInteger = 0

    NativeMethods.GetWindowThreadProcessId(hWnd, ProcessID)

    Return If(ProcessID <> 0, Process.GetProcessById(ProcessID), Nothing)
End Function

Now you can use this like:
Dim ActiveProcess As Process = GetActiveProcess()

If ActiveProcess IsNot Nothing AndAlso ActiveProcess.ProcessName = "osk" Then
    'Active process is "osk", do something...
End If


1. Case Description {#sec1}
===================

The patient is a 33-year-old male with an unremarkable past medical history and was transferred from an outside facility with an acute inferior myocardial infarction and ventricular tachycardia. Patient initially presented to the outside facility with complaints of chest pain. ECG showed lateral ST elevation and subtle inferior ST elevation. At the outside facility, patient developed ventricular tachycardia, and CPR was initiated with cardioversion 4 times before return of spontaneous circulation. The patient was subsequently intubated and transferred to our facility for further management.

Upon transfer, the patient was taken for left heart catheterization (LHC) and selective coronary angiography. Left heart catheterization and angiography showed an 80% long tubular stenosis of the proximal to mid left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) as well as an anomalous takeoff of the right coronary artery (RCA) from a left main coronary artery (Figures [2(a)](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}, [2(b)](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}, and [2(c)](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}). LHC revealed markedly elevated left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP). The patient was aggressively diuresed after LHC revealed an elevated LVEDP. Dynamic ST changes improved with dual antiplatelet therapy, heparin, nitrates, and aggressive diuresis. Cardiac CT angiography with 3D reconstruction (Figures [1(a)](#fig1){ref-type="fig"} and [1(b)](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}) showed an anomalous origin of the right coronary artery coursing from the left main coronary artery between the aorta and pulmonary trunk. There was more than 70% narrowing at the origin of the right coronary artery from an apparent impingement from a plethoric pulmonary trunk. Cardiovascular surgery was consulted for surgical intervention. Aortocoronary bypass was performed with a left internal mammary artery bypass to the left anterior descending coronary artery and saphenous vein graft bypass to the right coronary artery. Postoperatively, the patient recovered and was discharged home.

2. Discussion {#sec2}
=============

Coronary artery anomalies are found in 0.9%--1.3% of patients undergoing coronary angiography \[[@B1], [@B2]\]. Anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery or right coronary artery from the aorta coursing between the aorta and pulmonary trunk is rare and can be sometimes life-threatening. After hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, coronary artery anomalies are the second most common cause of sudden cardiac deaths among young athletes. Coronary artery anomalies are also the most common cause of nontraumatic sudden deaths in young American military recruits \[[@B2]--[@B4]\]. In a recent study, coronary artery anomalies were the cause of death in up to 19% of young athletes who died during or shortly after strenuous physical activity \[[@B3]\]. An interarterial course is clinically significant and carries a high risk for sudden cardiac death in young adults \[[@B5]\].

This is a case presentation of an RCA originating from the common left main coronary artery and coursing between the pulmonary trunk and aorta. The patient presented with ST segment elevation and life-threatening arrhythmia. Reduction of the right coronary blood flow secondary to impingement from a plethoric pulmonary trunk is likely attributed to the acute presentation. Notably, the patient did have anterolateral ST changes, suggestive of a hemodynamically significant LAD lesion, which may have contributed to the elevated LVEDP on presentation. In other presentations of compromising coronary anomalies, reduction in the coronary blood flow could be due to compression of the first segment of the coronary artery during its interarterial course, acute takeoffs, or slit-like orifices of these arteries. Anomalous coronary origin with interarterial coursing causes compromise in the coronary blood flow, which is evident during increases in pressure in the great vessels during exercise. Ischemic compromise of anomalous coronary arteries manifests as angina, syncope, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, and sudden death \[[@B6]--[@B10]\].

However, coronary anomalies are often asymptomatic and might be discovered as an incidental finding. The physical exam, ECG, and stress test are generally unremarkable. An anomalous origin of a coronary artery and its route may be diagnosed by coronary angiography or more definitively by multislice computed tomography. Intravascular ultrasound provides high-resolution images to precisely evaluate coronary anomalies and luminal irregularity. The role of intravascular ultrasound was recently demonstrated in a small study that diagnosed an extrinsic compression of an anomalous coronary artery originating from the opposite sinus of Valsalva \[[@B11]\].

A study of two large registries composed of 27 young competitive athletes who died of sudden cardiac death (SCD) revealed that 23 had left main coronary artery from the right aortic sinus and 4 had a right coronary artery from the left sinus \[[@B12]\]. Estimates on rates of SCD with this condition come almost exclusively from autopsy data. Multiple studies focused on identifying specific factors that correlate with a higher likelihood of SCD in patient with coronary anomalies revealed that angle of take off, intramural course, slit-like ostium, interarterial course, vessel spasm, and intussusception of the anomalous vessel are the contributing factors \[[@B13]\]. However, in an attempt to identify specific features that were thought to contribute to risk of death, Taylor et al. looked at 30 pathology cases of anomalous coronary arteries and concluded that there were no anatomic features that could aid in risk assessment \[[@B14]\]. This assertion produces a quandary in risk assessment and likely means that these cases should be assessed individually on a case by case basis.

Anomalous origin of the right coronary artery from the left coronary sinus is 6 times more common than the contrary situation of the left coronary artery originating from the right coronary sinus. However, fortunately this presentation is believed to be more benign than its counterpart which is more malignant. Consequently, although surgical repair is advisable for all patients with the left coronary artery originating from the right coronary sinus, this is not the case with the right coronary artery originating from the left coronary sinus, where it might it be advisable to only a selected subgroup of patients \[[@B15]\]. The surgical options for anomalous coronary origins from contralateral sinus include bypass grafting, reimplantation of the anomalous vessel into its appropriate sinus, patch augmentation with or without pulmonary artery translocation, and unroofing the anomalous vessel \[[@B16]\]. Nonsurgical strategies include the use of beta blockers and avoidance of participation in all competitive sports for patients \[[@B15]\].

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

![(a) Cardiac CT angiography with 3D reconstruction with digital subtraction of pulmonary arteries. (b) Cardiac CT angiography.](CRIM.MEDICINE2013-195026.001){#fig1}

![(a) Anomalous right coronary artery AP caudal projection with nonselective left coronary ostia angiogram. (b) Anomalous right coronary takeoff from left coronary artery in a RAO caudal projection of nonselective left coronary ostia angiogram. (c) Aortogram utilizing the JR4 catheter showing no separate right coronary ostium.](CRIM.MEDICINE2013-195026.002){#fig2}

[^1]: Academic Editor: Frank A. Pigula


Millennials make up the second-largest generation in U.S. history, representing 20 million American households. While millennials have been dubbed the renting generation bysome, they are starting to make strides in the housing market. In the summer of 2014, 30% of home buyers were millennials, according to an analysis from realtor.com®.Even though more millennials plan to buy a home in 2015, your first home purchase can still be a scary proposition. After all, how do you know if you’re too young for homeownership? Here’s how to tell if you’re ready.Where will you be in the next five to 10 years?Buying a home is a time commitment. If you sell too soon, you won’t build up any equityand you might take a loss on the deal.

With that as a guide, don’t consider buying a house unless you’re ready to live in an area for at least the next five years. If you think your job might relocate you sometime soon, or you’d like to try life in another city, buying may not be a smart idea right now.Are you ready to live alone?If you’re buying a home on your own, odds are you’ll end up living alone some of the time. Many young people buy a home expecting to have a roommate, but plans change and roommates move out.While there’s nothing wrong with renting a spare bedroom, make sure you’re emotionally prepared to live alone at least some of the time.Do you have time to DIY?Owning a home means routine maintenance, repairs, and home improvement jobs over the weekend. You’ll have to mow the lawn, unclog drains, fix leaking pipes, and address other home repair jobs.Before you commit to homeownership, make sure you have the time (and the desire) to spend some nights and weekends working on improving or maintaining your biggest investment.

Can you afford it?Buying is often cheaper than renting in the long run, but the upfront costs are much higher. When you rent, you have to pay only the first month’s rent and the security deposit. When you buy, you’ll have to make a down payment and cover closing costs.While you can find loan programs that will work with smaller down payments, you’ll still spend much more upfront to buy. You’ll need the down payment plus enough cash reserves to get approved for a loan. If you don’t have much saved in the bank, it may be better to wait.Do you know why you want to buy?Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make, and it isn’t something you want to rush. Don’t listen to negative thoughts or give in to peer pressure about how you “should have a house by now.”If you can think of several reasons why you personally want to be a homeowner, you’re likely emotionally ready to consider buying. Otherwise, it might be better to rent until you’re sure you want to make the transition.

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