Despite the downturn in 2012 that we discussed a few weeks ago, trade in derivative markets is still enormous and diverse enough to be difficult to comprehend. By the same token, the futures industry that provides the facilities and infrastructure that support the huge volume of derivative trade is equally diverse, as are the people and entities that trade in derivative markets and create the trading volume. Despite all of this diversity, there exists one common thread that ties together derivative markets, those who trade in them and the futures commission merchants (FCMs) through which most trading is done. It is that customers/clients and the funds they deposit to support their trading should be protected from misfeasance or malfeasance...
Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve Kiwengwa/Pongwe Forest Reserve is located on the northeast coast of Unguja, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Town. The reserve is an important biodiversity spot in the coral rag zone. The forest reserve is rich both in faunal and floral species. The faunal species r...
Fabiana is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, native to dry slopes in western South America.[1] They are evergreen shrubs or subshrubs,[1] with needle-like leaves and profuse tiny tubular flowers in summer. The common name is false heath because the leaves superficially resem...
An Ankylosaurus lumbers along the shore of what’s now eastern Montana. Walking low to the ground, the dino uses its flat, leaf-shaped teeth to tear at ferns lining the water. Suddenly, a shadow looms over the herbivore—a Tyrannosaurus rex is hungry. But Ankylosaurus won’t be a...
The magpie goose (Anseranas semipalmata) is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea.[2] The species is not truly migratory but it sometimes travels large distances to find food and water, especiall...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.