title: Derivative (finance)

text: Hedging also occurs when an individual or institution buys an asset (such as a commodity, a bond that has coupon payments, a stock that pays dividends, and so on) and sells it using a futures contract. The individual or institution has access to the asset for a specified amount of time, and can then sell it in the future at a specified price according to the futures contract. Of course, this allows the individual or institution the benefit of holding the asset, while reducing the risk that the future selling price will deviate unexpectedly from the market's current assessment of the future value of the asset.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Derivatives trading of this kind may serve the financial interests of certain particular businesses. For example, a corporation borrows a large sum of money at a specific interest rate. The interest rate on the loan reprices every six months. The corporation is concerned that the rate of interest may be much higher in six months. The corporation could buy a forward rate agreement (FRA), which is a contract to pay a fixed rate of interest six months after purchases on a notional amount of money. If the interest rate after six months is above the contract rate, the seller will pay the difference to the corporation, or FRA buyer. If the rate is lower, the corporation will pay the difference to the seller. The purchase of the FRA serves to reduce the uncertainty concerning the rate increase and stabilize earnings.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Derivatives can be used to acquire risk, rather than to hedge against risk. Thus, some individuals and institutions will enter into a derivative contract to speculate on the value of the underlying asset. Speculators look to buy an asset in the future at a low price according to a derivative contract when the future market price is high, or to sell an asset in the future at a high price according to a derivative contract when the future market price is less.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Speculative trading in derivatives gained a great deal of notoriety in 1995 when Nick Leeson, a trader at Barings Bank, made poor and unauthorized investments in futures contracts. Through a combination of poor judgment, lack of oversight by the bank's management and regulators, and unfortunate events like the Kobe earthquake, Leeson incurred a $1.3 billion loss that bankrupted the centuries-old institution.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Individuals and institutions may also look for arbitrage opportunities, as when the current buying price of an asset falls below the price specified in a futures contract to sell the asset.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The true proportion of derivatives contracts used for hedging purposes is unknown, but it appears to be relatively small. Also, derivatives contracts account for only 3–6% of the median firms' total currency and interest rate exposure. Nonetheless, we know that many firms' derivatives activities have at least some speculative component for a variety of reasons.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In broad terms, there are two groups of derivative contracts, which are distinguished by the way they are traded in the market:


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives are contracts that are traded (and privately negotiated) directly between two parties, without going through an exchange or other intermediary. Products such as swaps, forward rate agreements, exotic options – and other exotic derivatives – are almost always traded in this way. The OTC derivative market is the largest market for derivatives, and is largely unregulated with respect to disclosure of information between the parties, since the OTC market is made up of banks and other highly sophisticated parties, such as hedge funds. Reporting of OTC amounts is difficult because trades can occur in private, without activity being visible on any exchanges


title: Derivative (finance)

text: According to the Bank for International Settlements, who first surveyed OTC derivatives in 1995, reported that the "gross market value, which represent the cost of replacing all open contracts at the prevailing market prices, ... increased by 74% since 2004, to $11 trillion at the end of June 2007 (BIS 2007:24)." Positions in the OTC derivatives market increased to $516 trillion at the end of June 2007, 135% higher than the level recorded in 2004. The total outstanding notional amount is US$708 trillion (as of June 2011). Of this total notional amount, 67% are interest rate contracts, 8% are credit default swaps (CDS), 9% are foreign exchange contracts, 2% are commodity contracts, 1% are equity contracts, and 12% are other. Because OTC derivatives are not traded on an exchange, there is no central counter-party. Therefore, they are subject to counterparty risk, like an ordinary contract, since each counter-party relies on the other to perform.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) are those derivatives instruments that are traded via specialized derivatives exchanges or other exchanges. A derivatives exchange is a market where individuals trade standardized contracts that have been defined by the exchange. A derivatives exchange acts as an intermediary to all related transactions, and takes initial margin from both sides of the trade to act as a guarantee. The world's largest derivatives exchanges (by number of transactions) are the Korea Exchange (which lists KOSPI Index Futures & Options), Eurex (which lists a wide range of European products such as interest rate & index products), and CME Group (made up of the 2007 merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade and the 2008 acquisition of the New York Mercantile Exchange). According to BIS, the combined turnover in the world's derivatives exchanges totaled US$344 trillion during Q4 2005. By December 2007 the Bank for International Settlements reported that "derivatives traded on exchanges surged 27% to a record $681 trillion."


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Inverse exchange-traded funds (IETFs) and leveraged exchange-traded funds (LETFs) are two special types of exchange traded funds (ETFs) that are available to common traders and investors on major exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq. To maintain these products' net asset value, these funds' administrators must employ more sophisticated financial engineering methods than what's usually required for maintenance of traditional ETFs. These instruments must also be regularly rebalanced and re-indexed each day.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). An "asset-backed security" is used as an umbrella term for a type of security backed by a pool of assets—including collateralized debt obligations and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) (Example: "The capital market in which asset-backed securities are issued and traded is composed of three main categories: ABS, MBS and CDOs".)—and sometimes for a particular type of that security—one backed by consumer loans (example: "As a rule of thumb, securitization issues backed by mortgages are called MBS, and securitization issues backed by debt obligations are called CDO, [and] Securitization issues backed by consumer-backed products—car loans, consumer loans and credit cards, among others—are called ABS.) Originally developed for the corporate debt markets, over time CDOs evolved to encompass the mortgage and mortgage-backed security (MBS) markets.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Like other private-label securities backed by assets, a CDO can be thought of as a promise to pay investors in a prescribed sequence, based on the cash flow the CDO collects from the pool of bonds or other assets it owns. The CDO is "sliced" into "tranches", which "catch" the cash flow of interest and principal payments in sequence based on seniority. If some loans default and the cash collected by the CDO is insufficient to pay all of its investors, those in the lowest, most "junior" tranches suffer losses first. The last to lose payment from default are the safest, most senior tranches. Consequently, coupon payments (and interest rates) vary by tranche with the safest/most senior tranches paying the lowest and the lowest tranches paying the highest rates to compensate for higher default risk. As an example, a CDO might issue the following tranches in order of safeness: Senior AAA (sometimes known as "super senior"); Junior AAA; AA; A; BBB; Residual.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Separate special-purpose entities—rather than the parent investment bank—issue the CDOs and pay interest to investors. As CDOs developed, some sponsors repackaged tranches into yet another iteration called "CDO-Squared" or the "CDOs of CDOs".


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In the early 2000s, CDOs were generally diversified, but by 2006–2007—when the CDO market grew to hundreds of billions of dollars—this changed. CDO collateral became dominated not by loans, but by lower level (BBB or A) tranches recycled from other asset-backed securities, whose assets were usually non-prime mortgages. These CDOs have been called "the engine that powered the mortgage supply chain" for nonprime mortgages, and are credited with giving lenders greater incentive to make non-prime loans leading up to the 2007-9 subprime mortgage crisis.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer (the creditor of the reference loan) in the event of a loan default (by the debtor) or other credit event. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments (the CDS "fee" or "spread") to the seller and, in exchange, receives a payoff if the loan defaults. It was invented by Blythe Masters from JP Morgan in 1994.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In the event of default the buyer of the CDS receives compensation (usually the face value of the loan), and the seller of the CDS takes possession of the defaulted loan. However, anyone with sufficient collateral to trade with a bank or hedge fund can purchase a CDS, even buyers who do not hold the loan instrument and who have no direct insurable interest in the loan (these are called "naked" CDSs). If there are more CDS contracts outstanding than bonds in existence, a protocol exists to hold a credit event auction; the payment received is usually substantially less than the face value of the loan.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Credit default swaps have existed since the early 1990s, and increased in use after 2003. By the end of 2007, the outstanding CDS amount was $62.2 trillion, falling to $26.3 trillion by mid-year 2010 but reportedly $25.5 trillion in early 2012. CDSs are not traded on an exchange and there is no required reporting of transactions to a government agency. During the 2007–2010 financial crisis the lack of transparency in this large market became a concern to regulators as it could pose a systemic risk.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: CDS data can be used by financial professionals, regulators, and the media to monitor how the market views credit risk of any entity on which a CDS is available, which can be compared to that provided by credit rating agencies. U.S. courts may soon be following suit.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Most CDSs are documented using standard forms drafted by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), although there are many variants. In addition to the basic, single-name swaps, there are basket default swaps (BDSs), index CDSs, funded CDSs (also called credit-linked notes), as well as loan-only credit default swaps (LCDS). In addition to corporations and governments, the reference entity can include a special-purpose vehicle issuing asset-backed securities.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Some claim that derivatives such as CDS are potentially dangerous in that they combine priority in bankruptcy with a lack of transparency. A CDS can be unsecured (without collateral) and be at higher risk for a default.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In finance, a forward contract or simply a forward is a non-standardized contract between two parties to buy or to sell an asset at a specified future time at an amount agreed upon today, making it a type of derivative instrument. This is in contrast to a spot contract, which is an agreement to buy or sell an asset on its spot date, which may vary depending on the instrument, for example most of the FX contracts have Spot Date two business days from today. The party agreeing to buy the underlying asset in the future assumes a long position, and the party agreeing to sell the asset in the future assumes a short position. The price agreed upon is called the delivery price, which is equal to the forward price at the time the contract is entered into.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The price of the underlying instrument, in whatever form, is paid before control of the instrument changes. This is one of the many forms of buy/sell orders where the time and date of trade is not the same as the value date where the securities themselves are exchanged.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The forward price of such a contract is commonly contrasted with the spot price, which is the price at which the asset changes hands on the spot date. The difference between the spot and the forward price is the forward premium or forward discount, generally considered in the form of a profit, or loss, by the purchasing party. Forwards, like other derivative securities, can be used to hedge risk (typically currency or exchange rate risk), as a means of speculation, or to allow a party to take advantage of a quality of the underlying instrument which is time-sensitive.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: A closely related contract is a futures contract; they differ in certain respects. Forward contracts are very similar to futures contracts, except they are not exchange-traded, or defined on standardized assets. Forwards also typically have no interim partial settlements or "true-ups" in margin requirements like futures—such that the parties do not exchange additional property securing the party at gain and the entire unrealized gain or loss builds up while the contract is open. However, being traded over the counter (OTC), forward contracts specification can be customized and may include mark-to-market and daily margin calls. Hence, a forward contract arrangement might call for the loss party to pledge collateral or additional collateral to better secure the party at gain. In other words, the terms of the forward contract will determine the collateral calls based upon certain "trigger" events relevant to a particular counterparty such as among other things, credit ratings, value of assets under management or redemptions over a specific time frame (e.g., quarterly, annually).


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In finance, a 'futures contract' (more colloquially, futures) is a standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed upon today (the "futures price") with delivery and payment occurring at a specified future date, the "delivery date", making it a derivative product (i.e. a financial product that is derived from an underlying asset). The contracts are negotiated at a futures exchange, which acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller. The party agreeing to buy the underlying asset in the future, the "buyer" of the contract, is said to be "long", and the party agreeing to sell the asset in the future, the "seller" of the contract, is said to be "short".


title: Derivative (finance)

text: While the futures contract specifies a trade taking place in the future, the purpose of the futures exchange is to act as intermediary and mitigate the risk of default by either party in the intervening period. For this reason, the futures exchange requires both parties to put up an initial amount of cash (performance bond), the margin. Margins, sometimes set as a percentage of the value of the futures contract, need to be proportionally maintained at all times during the life of the contract to underpin this mitigation because the price of the contract will vary in keeping with supply and demand and will change daily and thus one party or the other will theoretically be making or losing money. To mitigate risk and the possibility of default by either party, the product is marked to market on a daily basis whereby the difference between the prior agreed-upon price and the actual daily futures price is settled on a daily basis. This is sometimes known as the variation margin where the futures exchange will draw money out of the losing party's margin account and put it into the other party's thus ensuring that the correct daily loss or profit is reflected in the respective account. If the margin account goes below a certain value set by the Exchange, then a margin call is made and the account owner must replenish the margin account. This process is known as "marking to market". Thus on the delivery date, the amount exchanged is not the specified price on the contract but the spot value (i.e., the original value agreed upon, since any gain or loss has already been previously settled by marking to market). Upon marketing the strike price is often reached and creates much income for the "caller".


title: Derivative (finance)

text: A closely related contract is a forward contract. A forward is like a futures in that it specifies the exchange of goods for a specified price at a specified future date. However, a forward is not traded on an exchange and thus does not have the interim partial payments due to marking to market. Nor is the contract standardized, as on the exchange.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Unlike an option, both parties of a futures contract must fulfill the contract on the delivery date. The seller delivers the underlying asset to the buyer, or, if it is a cash-settled futures contract, then cash is transferred from the futures trader who sustained a loss to the one who made a profit. To exit the commitment prior to the settlement date, the holder of a futures position can close out its contract obligations by taking the opposite position on another futures contract on the same asset and settlement date. The difference in futures prices is then a profit or loss..


title: Derivative (finance)

text: A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is an asset-backed security that is secured by a mortgage, or more commonly a collection ("pool") of sometimes hundreds of mortgages. The mortgages are sold to a group of individuals (a government agency or investment bank) that "securitizes", or packages, the loans together into a security that can be sold to investors. The mortgages of an MBS may be residential or commercial, depending on whether it is an Agency MBS or a Non-Agency MBS; in the United States they may be issued by structures set up by government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or they can be "private-label", issued by structures set up by investment banks. The structure of the MBS may be known as "pass-through", where the interest and principal payments from the borrower or homebuyer pass through it to the MBS holder, or it may be more complex, made up of a pool of other MBSs. Other types of MBS include collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs, often structured as real estate mortgage investment conduits) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs).


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The shares of subprime MBSs issued by various structures, such as CMOs, are not identical but rather issued as tranches (French for "slices"), each with a different level of priority in the debt repayment stream, giving them different levels of risk and reward. Tranches—especially the lower-priority, higher-interest tranches—of an MBS are/were often further repackaged and resold as collaterized debt obligations. These subprime MBSs issued by investment banks were a major issue in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2006–2008


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The total face value of an MBS decreases over time, because like mortgages, and unlike bonds, and most other fixed-income securities, the principal in an MBS is not paid back as a single payment to the bond holder at maturity but rather is paid along with the interest in each periodic payment (monthly, quarterly, etc.). This decrease in face value is measured by the MBS's "factor", the percentage of the original "face" that remains to be repaid.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In finance, an option is a contract which gives the "buyer" (the owner) the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified date. The "seller" has the corresponding obligation to fulfill the transaction—that is to sell or buy—if the buyer (owner) "exercises" the option. The buyer pays a premium to the seller for this right. An option that conveys to the owner the right to buy something at a certain price is a "call option"; an option that conveys the right of the owner to sell something at a certain price is a "put option". Both are commonly traded, but for clarity, the call option is more frequently discussed.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Options valuation is a topic of ongoing research in academic and practical finance. In basic terms, the value of an option is commonly decomposed into two parts:


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Although options valuation has been studied since the 19th century, the contemporary approach is based on the Black–Scholes model, which was first published in 1973.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Options contracts have been known for many centuries. However, both trading activity and academic interest increased when, as from 1973, options were issued with standardized terms and traded through a guaranteed clearing house at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Today, many options are created in a standardized form and traded through clearing houses on regulated options exchanges, while other over-the-counter options are written as bilateral, customized contracts between a single buyer and seller, one or both of which may be a dealer or market-maker. Options are part of a larger class of financial instruments known as derivative products or simply derivatives.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: A swap is a derivative in which two counterparties exchange cash flows of one party's financial instrument for those of the other party's financial instrument. The benefits in question depend on the type of financial instruments involved. For example, in the case of a swap involving two bonds, the benefits in question can be the periodic interest (coupon) payments associated with such bonds. Specifically, two counterparties agree to the exchange one stream of cash flows against another stream. These streams are called the swap's "legs". The swap agreement defines the dates when the cash flows are to be paid and the way they are accrued and calculated. Usually at the time when the contract is initiated, at least one of these series of cash flows is determined by an uncertain variable such as a floating interest rate, foreign exchange rate, equity price, or commodity price.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The cash flows are calculated over a notional principal amount. Contrary to a future, a forward or an option, the notional amount is usually not exchanged between counterparties. Consequently, swaps can be in cash or collateral.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Swaps can be used to hedge certain risks such as interest rate risk, or to speculate on changes in the expected direction of underlying prices.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Swaps were first introduced to the public in 1981 when IBM and the World Bank entered into a swap agreement. Today, swaps are among the most heavily traded financial contracts in the world: the total amount of interest rates and currency swaps outstanding is more than $348 trillion in 2010, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The five generic types of swaps, in order of their quantitative importance, are: interest rate swaps, currency swaps, credit swaps, commodity swaps and equity swaps (there are many other types).


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In a nutshell, there is a substantial increase in savings and investment in the long run due to augmented activities by derivative market participant.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: For exchange-traded derivatives, market price is usually transparent (often published in real time by the exchange, based on all the current bids and offers placed on that particular contract at any one time). Complications can arise with OTC or floor-traded contracts though, as trading is handled manually, making it difficult to automatically broadcast prices. In particular with OTC contracts, there is no central exchange to collate and disseminate prices.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The arbitrage-free price for a derivatives contract can be complex, and there are many different variables to consider. Arbitrage-free pricing is a central topic of financial mathematics. For futures/forwards the arbitrage free price is relatively straightforward, involving the price of the underlying together with the cost of carry (income received less interest costs), although there can be complexities.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: However, for options and more complex derivatives, pricing involves developing a complex pricing model: understanding the stochastic process of the price of the underlying asset is often crucial. A key equation for the theoretical valuation of options is the Black–Scholes formula, which is based on the assumption that the cash flows from a European stock option can be replicated by a continuous buying and selling strategy using only the stock. A simplified version of this valuation technique is the binomial options model.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: OTC represents the biggest challenge in using models to price derivatives. Since these contracts are not publicly traded, no market price is available to validate the theoretical valuation. Most of the model's results are input-dependent (meaning the final price depends heavily on how we derive the pricing inputs).


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Therefore, it is common that OTC derivatives are priced by Independent Agents that both counterparties involved in the deal designate upfront (when signing the contract).


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Derivatives are often subject to the following criticisms; particularly since the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, the discipline of Risk management has developed attempting to address the below and other risks - see .


title: Derivative (finance)

text: According to Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), "... it may well be that the managers of these firms [investment funds] have figured out the correlations between the various instruments they hold and believe they are hedged. Yet as Chan and others (2005) point out, the lessons of summer 1998 following the default on Russian government debt is that correlations that are zero or negative in normal times can turn overnight to one – a phenomenon they term "phase lock-in". A hedged position "can become unhedged at the worst times, inflicting substantial losses on those who mistakenly believe they are protected".


title: Derivative (finance)

text: The use of derivatives can result in large losses because of the use of leverage, or borrowing. Derivatives allow investors to earn large returns from small movements in the underlying asset's price. However, investors could lose large amounts if the price of the underlying moves against them significantly. There have been several instances of massive losses in derivative markets, such as the following:


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Derivatives typically have a large notional value. As such, there is the danger that their use could result in losses for which the investor would be unable to compensate. The possibility that this could lead to a chain reaction ensuing in an economic crisis was pointed out by famed investor Warren Buffett in Berkshire Hathaway's 2002 annual report. Buffett called them 'financial weapons of mass destruction.' A potential problem with derivatives is that they comprise an increasingly larger notional amount of assets which may lead to distortions in the underlying capital and equities markets themselves. Investors begin to look at the derivatives markets to make a decision to buy or sell securities and so what was originally meant to be a market to transfer risk now becomes a leading indicator.(See Berkshire Hathaway Annual Report for 2002)


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Some derivatives (especially swaps) expose investors to counterparty risk, or risk arising from the other party in a financial transaction. Different types of derivatives have different levels of counter party risk. For example, standardized stock options by law require the party at risk to have a certain amount deposited with the exchange, showing that they can pay for any losses; banks that help businesses swap variable for fixed rates on loans may do credit checks on both parties. However, in private agreements between two companies, for example, there may not be benchmarks for performing due diligence and risk analysis.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Under US law and the laws of most other developed countries, derivatives have special legal exemptions that make them a particularly attractive legal form to extend credit. The strong creditor protections afforded to derivatives counterparties, in combination with their complexity and lack of transparency however, can cause capital markets to underprice credit risk. This can contribute to credit booms, and increase systemic risks. Indeed, the use of derivatives to conceal credit risk from third parties while protecting derivative counterparties contributed to the financial crisis of 2008 in the United States.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In the context of a 2010 examination of the ICE Trust, an industry self-regulatory body, Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which regulates most derivatives, was quoted saying that the derivatives marketplace as it functions now "adds up to higher costs to all Americans". More oversight of the banks in this market is needed, he also said. Additionally, the report said, "[t]he Department of Justice is looking into derivatives, too. The department's antitrust unit is actively investigating 'the possibility of anticompetitive practices in the credit derivatives clearing, trading and information services industries', according to a department spokeswoman."


title: Derivative (finance)

text: For legislators and committees responsible for financial reform related to derivatives in the United States and elsewhere, distinguishing between hedging and speculative derivatives activities has been a nontrivial challenge. The distinction is critical because regulation should help to isolate and curtail speculation with derivatives, especially for "systemically significant" institutions whose default could be large enough to threaten the entire financial system. At the same time, the legislation should allow for responsible parties to hedge risk without unduly tying up working capital as collateral that firms may better employ elsewhere in their operations and investment.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In this regard, it is important to distinguish between financial (e.g. banks) and non-financial end-users of derivatives (e.g. real estate development companies) because these firms' derivatives usage is inherently different. More importantly, the reasonable collateral that secures these different counterparties can be very different. The distinction between these firms is not always straight forward (e.g. hedge funds or even some private equity firms do not neatly fit either category). Finally, even financial users must be differentiated, as 'large' banks may classified as "systemically significant" whose derivatives activities must be more tightly monitored and restricted than those of smaller, local and regional banks.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Over-the-counter dealing will be less common as the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act comes into effect. The law mandated the clearing of certain swaps at registered exchanges and imposed various restrictions on derivatives. To implement Dodd-Frank, the CFTC developed new rules in at least 30 areas. The Commission determines which swaps are subject to mandatory clearing and whether a derivatives exchange is eligible to clear a certain type of swap contract.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Nonetheless, the above and other challenges of the rule-making process have delayed full enactment of aspects of the legislation relating to derivatives. The challenges are further complicated by the necessity to orchestrate globalized financial reform among the nations that comprise the world's major financial markets, a primary responsibility of the Financial Stability Board whose progress is ongoing.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In the U.S., by February 2012 the combined effort of the SEC and CFTC had produced over 70 proposed and final derivatives rules. However, both of them had delayed adoption of a number of derivatives regulations because of the burden of other rulemaking, litigation and opposition to the rules, and many core definitions (such as the terms "swap", "security-based swap", "swap dealer", "security-based swap dealer", "major swap participant" and "major security-based swap participant") had still not been adopted. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro opined: "At the end of the day, it probably does not make sense to harmonize everything [between the SEC and CFTC rules] because some of these products are quite different and certainly the market structures are quite different." On February 11, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released two final rules toward establishing a reporting and public disclosure framework for security-based swap transaction data. The two rules are not completely harmonized with the requirements with CFTC requirements.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: In November 2012, the SEC and regulators from Australia, Brazil, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Ontario, Quebec, Singapore, and Switzerland met to discuss reforming the OTC derivatives market, as had been agreed by leaders at the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh summit in September 2009. In December 2012, they released a joint statement to the effect that they recognized that the market is a global one and "firmly support the adoption and enforcement of robust and consistent standards in and across jurisdictions", with the goals of mitigating risk, improving transparency, protecting against market abuse, preventing regulatory gaps, reducing the potential for arbitrage opportunities, and fostering a level playing field for market participants. They also agreed on the need to reduce regulatory uncertainty and provide market participants with sufficient clarity on laws and regulations by avoiding, to the extent possible, the application of conflicting rules to the same entities and transactions, and minimizing the application of inconsistent and duplicative rules. At the same time, they noted that "complete harmonization – perfect alignment of rules across jurisdictions" would be difficult, because of jurisdictions' differences in law, policy, markets, implementation timing, and legislative and regulatory processes.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: On December 20, 2013 the CFTC provided information on its swaps regulation "comparability" determinations. The release addressed the CFTC's cross-border compliance exceptions. Specifically it addressed which entity level and in some cases transaction-level requirements in six jurisdictions (Australia, Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, and Switzerland) it found comparable to its own rules, thus permitting non-US swap dealers, major swap participants, and the foreign branches of US Swap Dealers and major swap participants in these jurisdictions to comply with local rules in lieu of Commission rules.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: Mandatory reporting regulations are being finalized in a number of countries, such as Dodd Frank Act in the US, the European Market Infrastructure Regulations (EMIR) in Europe, as well as regulations in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Canada, and other countries. The OTC Derivatives Regulators Forum (ODRF), a group of over 40 worldwide regulators, provided trade repositories with a set of guidelines regarding data access to regulators, and the Financial Stability Board and CPSS IOSCO also made recommendations in with regard to reporting.


title: Derivative (finance)

text: DTCC, through its "Global Trade Repository" (GTR) service, manages global trade repositories for interest rates, and commodities, foreign exchange, credit, and equity derivatives. It makes global trade reports to the CFTC in the U.S., and plans to do the same for ESMA in Europe and for regulators in Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. It covers cleared and uncleared OTC derivatives products, whether or not a trade is electronically processed or bespoke.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: Russell James Vitale (born September 26, 1992), better known by his stage name Russ, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. After years of releasing albums, mixtapes and singles for free online, Russ released his twelfth studio album, "There's Really a Wolf", in May 2017 through Columbia Records; it was certified Platinum in April 2018. His first hit singles came from the album and were: "What They Want", "Losin Control" and "Best on Earth", peaking respectively at number 83, 63, and 46 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. His thirteenth album, "Zoo", was released on September 7, 2018, and peaked at number 4 on the US "Billboard" 200. His fourteenth studio album, "Shake the Snow Globe", was released on January 31, 2020, again peaking at number 4 on the US "Billboard" 200. Outside of his solo music, he is part of Diemon, a music collective from Atlanta.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: Russ was born on September 26, 1992, in Secaucus, New Jersey. He is of Sicilian descent. Russ was born into a Sicilian-American family which included him and three other siblings. He lived in North Carolina and Kentucky in his childhood due to his father having to constantly relocate due to his career, before his family found a permanent home in Atlanta. Russ was taught to play guitar by his father, and over the years gradually learned how to play several instruments. He started writing raps in his notebook at 7 years old. He started making beats when he was 14, and was initially producing with his friend Bugus. He recorded his first song at 18 years old.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: In 2011, Russ, alongside friend and fellow rapper Bugus, appeared on MTV after Bugus' song "El Jefe" gained traction. After his short enrollment in Kennesaw State University, Russ co-founded his own collective and label, Diemon, with Bugus and others. In a 2012 article on "Jenesis Magazine", Russ was described as an in-house producer for Diemon.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: From December 2011 to August 2014, Russ released 11 albums and 87 singles consecutively; all free of charge. Despite this, his music had not gained the attention that he wanted, so he began to release a song every week on SoundCloud for almost three years. Two of these songs, "What They Want" and "Losin Control", eventually peaked at number 83 and number 62 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 respectively.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: After signing a partnership with Columbia Records, Russ released his twelfth studio album, "There's Really a Wolf", on May 5, 2017; it debuted at number 7 on the US "Billboard" 200 and number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. On April 18, 2018, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 1,000,000 units in the United States. Prior to releasing his album, Russ announced on his Twitter account that he would be headlining his tour, The Wake Up Tour, from May 16 to August 5, 2017.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: Russ released his thirteenth studio album, "Zoo", on September 7, 2018, which peaked at number 4 on the "Billboard" 200. On November 12, 2019, Russ published his first book, "It's All in Your Head." On January 31, 2020, he released his fourteenth studio album, "Shake the Snow Globe", on Russ My Way Inc/Columbia Records. It peaked at number 4 on the US "Billboard 200".


title: Russ (rapper)

text: On June 30, 2020, Russ announced that he completed his deal with Columbia Records and is now an independent artist. On November 17, 2020, he released an EP titled "Chomp". It features guest appearances from Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, Benny the Butcher and Ab-Soul, among others.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: On November 18, 2021, Russ announced a new EP, "Chomp 2", as the sequel to last year’s "Chomp". The project was released on December 8, 2021 under Russ My Way Inc.


title: Russ (rapper)

text: He produced beats for around six years before he attempted to record himself rapping. Russ is known for his songs being produced, mixed, mastered, engineered, written, and performed by himself. Most of his songs contain hip hop and R&B elements, while combining rapping and singing on the hook. His style has been described by Uproxx as a "raspy, hardbody rap flow, and lilting, almost drunken singing voice".


title: Russ (rapper)

text: On September 11, 2017, after a show, Russ tweeted a picture depicting him in a shirt with writing on it that said: "How much xans and lean do you have to do before you realize you're a fucking loser". The tweet caused controversy, and led to numerous responses from other music artists. Chicago rapper Fredo Santana responded to the tweet, stating: "Until I can stop thinking bout my dead homies an the trauma I been thru in my life that's when I'll stop".


title: Russ (rapper)

text: Following the controversy, the phrase "fuck Russ" became a commonly referenced phrase and meme. On June 6, 2018, after rappers Lil Pump and J. Cole settled their issues in an interview, Lil Pump tweeted "ME & J COLE COOL NOW SO NOW ITS FUCK RUSS".


title: Russ (rapper)

text: Russ has two different eye colors, a condition known as heterochromia; his left eye is dark-brown and his right is light-brown.


title: Cormorant

text: Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven genera. The great cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo") and the common shag ("Gulosus aristotelis") are the only two species of the family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland and "cormorant" and "shag" appellations have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly.


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of and wing span of . The majority of species have dark feathers. The bill is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes. All species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings; some cormorant species have been found to dive as deep as . They have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have the highest flight costs of any flying bird.


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants nest in colonies around the shore, on trees, islets or cliffs. They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters. The original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands.


title: Cormorant

text: No consistent distinction exists between cormorants and shags. The names 'cormorant' and 'shag' were originally the common names of the two species of the family found in Great Britain, "Phalacrocorax carbo" (now referred to by ornithologists as the great cormorant) and "Gulosus aristotelis" (the European shag). "Shag" refers to the bird's crest, which the British forms of the great cormorant lack. As other species were encountered by English-speaking sailors and explorers elsewhere in the world, some were called cormorants and some shags, depending on whether they had crests or not. Sometimes the same species is called a cormorant in one part of the world and a shag in another, e.g., the great cormorant is called the black shag in New Zealand (the birds found in Australasia have a crest that is absent in European members of the species). Van Tets (1976) proposed to divide the family into two genera and attach the name "cormorant" to one and "shag" to the other, but this nomenclature has not been widely adopted.


title: Cormorant

text: The scientific family name is Latinised Ancient Greek, from φαλακρός ("phalakros", "bald") and κόραξ ("korax", "raven"). This is often thought to refer to the creamy white patch on the cheeks of adult great cormorants, or the ornamental white head plumes prominent in Mediterranean birds of this species, but is certainly not a unifying characteristic of cormorants. "Cormorant" is a contraction derived either directly from Latin "corvus marinus", "sea raven" or through Brythonic Celtic. Cormoran is the Cornish name of the sea giant in the tale of Jack the Giant Killer. Indeed, "sea raven" or analogous terms were the usual terms for cormorants in Germanic languages until after the Middle Ages. The French explorer André Thévet commented in 1558, "... the beak [is] similar to that of a cormorant or other corvid," which demonstrates that the erroneous belief that the birds were related to ravens lasted at least to the 16th century.


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large seabirds. They range in size from the pygmy cormorant ("Microcarbo pygmaeus"), at as little as and , to the flightless cormorant ("Nannopterum harrisi"), at a maximum size and . The recently extinct spectacled cormorant ("Urile perspicillatus") was rather larger, at an average size of . The majority, including nearly all Northern Hemisphere species, have mainly dark plumage, but some Southern Hemisphere species are black and white, and a few (e.g. the spotted shag of New Zealand) are quite colourful. Many species have areas of coloured skin on the face (the lores and the gular skin) which can be bright blue, orange, red or yellow, typically becoming more brightly coloured in the breeding season. The bill is long, thin, and sharply hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes, as in their relatives.


title: Cormorant

text: They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters – indeed, the original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird, judging from the habitat of the most ancient lineage. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands.


title: Cormorant

text: All cormorants and shags are fish-eaters, dining on small eels, fish, and even water snakes. They dive from the surface, though many species make a characteristic half-jump as they dive, presumably to give themselves a more streamlined entry into the water. Under water they propel themselves with their feet, though some also propel themselves with their wings (see the picture, commentary, and existing reference video). Imperial shag cormorants fitted with miniaturized video recorders have been filmed diving to depths of as much as to forage on the sea floor.


title: Cormorant

text: After fishing, cormorants go ashore, and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. All cormorants have preen gland secretions that are used ostensibly to keep the feathers waterproof. Some sources state that cormorants have waterproof feathers while others say that they have water-"permeable" feathers. Still others suggest that the outer plumage absorbs water but does not permit it to penetrate the layer of air next to the skin. The wing drying action is seen even in the flightless cormorant but not in the Antarctic shags or red-legged cormorants. Alternate functions suggested for the spread-wing posture include that it aids thermoregulation or digestion, balances the bird, or indicates presence of fish. A detailed study of the great cormorant concludes that it is without doubt to dry the plumage.


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants are colonial nesters, using trees, rocky islets, or cliffs. The eggs are a chalky-blue colour. There is usually one brood a year. Parents regurgitate food to feed their young, whose deep, ungainly bills show a greater resemblance to those of the pelicans (to which they are related) than is obvious in the adults.


title: Cormorant

text: The cormorants are a group traditionally placed within the Pelecaniformes or, in the Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy, the expanded Ciconiiformes. This latter group is certainly not a natural one, and even after the tropicbirds have been recognised as quite distinct, the remaining Pelecaniformes seem not to be entirely monophyletic. Their relationships and delimitation – apart from being part of a "higher waterfowl" clade which is similar but not identical to Sibley and Ahlquist's "pan-Ciconiiformes" – remain mostly unresolved. Notwithstanding, all evidence agrees that the cormorants and shags are closer to the darters and Sulidae (gannets and boobies), and perhaps the pelicans or even penguins, than to all other living birds.


title: Cormorant

text: In recent years, three preferred treatments of the cormorant family have emerged: either to leave all living cormorants in a single genus, "Phalacrocorax", or to split off a few species such as the imperial shag complex (in "Leucocarbo") and perhaps the flightless cormorant. Alternatively, the genus may be disassembled altogether and in the most extreme case be reduced to the great, white-breasted and Japanese cormorants. In 2014, a landmark study proposed a 7 genera treatment, which was adopted by the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International, and later by the IOC in 2021, standardizing it.


title: Cormorant

text: The cormorants and the darters have a unique bone on the back of the top of the skull known as the "os nuchale" or occipital style which was called a xiphoid process in early literature. This bony projection provides anchorage for the muscles that increase the force with which the lower mandible is closed. This bone and the highly developed muscles over it, the M. adductor mandibulae caput nuchale, are unique to the families Phalacrocoracidae and Anhingidae.


title: Cormorant

text: Several evolutionary groups are still recognizable. However, combining the available evidence suggests that there has also been a great deal of convergent evolution; for example the cliff shags are a convergent paraphyletic group. The proposed division into "Phalacrocorax sensu stricto" (or subfamily "Phalacrocoracinae") cormorants and "Leucocarbo sensu lato" (or "Leucocarboninae") shags does have some degree of merit. The resolution provided by the mtDNA 12S rRNA and ATPase subunits six and eight sequence data is not sufficient to properly resolve several groups to satisfaction; in addition, many species remain unsampled, the fossil record has not been integrated in the data, and the effects of hybridisation – known in some Pacific species especially – on the DNA sequence data are unstudied.


title: Cormorant

text: A multigene molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 provided a genus-level phylogeny of the family.


title: Cormorant

text: Prior to 2021, the IOC classified all these species in just "Microcarbo", "Phalacrocorax", and "Leucocarbo".


title: Cormorant

text: Some authorities such as the Clements Checklist have just two genera, "Microcarbo" with 5 species, and the rest in "Phalacrocorax."


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants have a very ancient body plan, with similar birds reaching back to the time of the dinosaurs. In fact, the earliest known modern bird, "Gansus yumenensis", had essentially the same structure. The details of the evolution of the cormorant are mostly unknown. Even the technique of using the distribution and relationships of a species to figure out where it came from, biogeography, usually very informative, does not give very specific data for this probably rather ancient and widespread group. However, the closest living relatives of the cormorants and shags are the other families of the suborder Sulae—darters and gannets and boobies—which have a primarily Gondwanan distribution. Hence, at least the modern diversity of Sulae probably originated in the southern hemisphere.


title: Cormorant

text: While the Leucocarbonines are almost certainly of southern Pacific origin—possibly even the Antarctic which, at the time when cormorants evolved, was not yet ice-covered—all that can be said about the Phalacrocoracines is that they are most diverse in the regions bordering the Indian Ocean, but generally occur over a large area.


title: Cormorant

text: Similarly, the origin of the family is shrouded in uncertainties. Some Late Cretaceous fossils have been proposed to belong with the Phalacrocoracidae:


title: Cormorant

text: A scapula from the Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary, about 70 mya (million years ago), was found in the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia; it is now in the PIN collection. It is from a bird roughly the size of a spectacled cormorant, and quite similar to the corresponding bone in "Phalacrocorax". A Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous, c. 66 mya) right femur, AMNH FR 25272 from the Lance Formation near Lance Creek, Wyoming, is sometimes suggested to be the second-oldest record of the Phalacrocoracidae; this was from a rather smaller bird, about the size of a long-tailed cormorant. However, cormorants likely originated much later, and these are likely misidentifications.


title: Cormorant

text: As the Early Oligocene ""Sula" ronzoni" cannot be assigned to any of the suloid families—cormorants and shags, darters, and gannets and boobies—with certainty, the best interpretation is that the Phalacrocoracidae diverged from their closest ancestors in the Early Oligocene, perhaps some 30 million years ago, and that the Cretaceous fossils represent ancestral suloids, "pelecaniforms" or "higher waterbirds"; at least the last lineage is generally believed to have been already distinct and undergoing evolutionary radiation at the end of the Cretaceous. What can be said with near certainty is that AMNH FR 25272 is from a diving bird that used its feet for underwater locomotion; as this is liable to result in some degree of convergent evolution and the bone is missing indisputable neornithine features, it is not entirely certain that the bone is correctly referred to this group.


title: Cormorant

text: Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the cormorants diverged from their closest relatives, the darters, during the Late Oligocene, indicating that most of the claims of Cretaceous or early Paleogene cormorant occurrences are likely misidentifications.


title: Cormorant

text: During the late Paleogene, when the family presumably originated, much of Eurasia was covered by shallow seas, as the Indian Plate finally attached to the mainland. Lacking a detailed study, it may well be that the first "modern" cormorants were small species from eastern, south-eastern or southern Asia, possibly living in freshwater habitat, that dispersed due to tectonic events. Such a scenario would account for the present-day distribution of cormorants and shags and is not contradicted by the fossil record; as remarked above, a thorough review of the problem is not yet available.


title: Cormorant

text: Two distinct genera of prehistoric cormorants are widely accepted today, if "Phalacrocorax" is used for all living species:


title: Cormorant

text: The proposed genus "Oligocorax" appears to be paraphyletic – the European species have been separated in "Nectornis", and the North American ones are placed in the expanded "Phalacrocorax". A Late Oligocene fossil cormorant foot from Enspel, Germany, sometimes placed herein, would then be referable to "Nectornis" if it proves not to be too distinct. All these early European species might belong to the basal group of "microcormorants", as they conform with them in size and seem to have inhabited the same habitat: subtropical coastal or inland waters. "Limicorallus", meanwhile, was initially believed to be a rail or a dabbling duck by some. There are also undescribed remains of apparent cormorants from the Quercy Phosphorites of Quercy (France), dating to some time between the Late Eocene and the mid-Oligocene.


title: Cormorant

text: Some other Paleogene remains are sometimes assigned to the Phalacrocoracidae, but these birds seem quite intermediate between cormorants and darters (and lack clear autapomorphies of either). Thus, they may be quite basal members of the Palacrocoracoidea. The taxa in question are:


title: Cormorant

text: The supposed Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene ""Valenticarbo"" is a "nomen dubium" and given its recent age probably not a separate genus.


title: Cormorant

text: The remaining species are, in accordance with the scheme used in this article, all placed in the modern genus "Phalacrocorax":


title: Cormorant

text: The former ""Phalacrocorax"" (or ""Oligocorax"") "mediterraneus" is now considered to belong to the bathornithid "Paracrax antiqua". ""P." subvolans" was actually a darter ("Anhinga").


title: Cormorant

text: Humans have used cormorants' fishing skills in various places in the world. Archaeological evidence suggests that cormorant fishing was practised in Ancient Egypt, Peru, Korea and India, but the strongest tradition has remained in China and Japan, where it reached commercial-scale level in some areas. In Japan, cormorant fishing is called . Traditional forms of "ukai" can be seen on the Nagara River in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, where cormorant fishing has continued uninterrupted for 1300 years, or in the city of Inuyama, Aichi. In Guilin, Guangxi, cormorants are famous for fishing on the shallow Li River. In Gifu, the Japanese cormorant ("P. capillatus") is used; Chinese fishermen often employ great cormorants ("P. carbo"). In Europe, a similar practice was also used on Doiran Lake in the region of Macedonia. James VI and I appointed a keeper of cormorants, John Wood, and built ponds at Westminster to train the birds to fish.


title: Cormorant

text: In a common technique, a snare is tied near the base of the bird's throat, which allows the bird only to swallow small fish. When the bird captures and tries to swallow a large fish, the fish is caught in the bird's throat. When the bird returns to the fisherman's raft, the fisherman helps the bird to remove the fish from its throat. The method is not as common today, since more efficient methods of catching fish have been developed, but is still practised as a cultural tradition.


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants feature in heraldry and medieval ornamentation, usually in their "wing-drying" pose, which was seen as representing the Christian cross, and symbolizing nobility and sacrifice. For John Milton in "Paradise Lost", the cormorant symbolizes greed: perched atop the Tree of Life, Satan took the form of a cormorant as he spied on Adam and Eve during his first intrusion into Eden.


title: Cormorant

text: In some Scandinavian areas, they are considered good omen; in particular, in Norwegian tradition spirits of those lost at sea come to visit their loved ones disguised as cormorants. For example, the Norwegian municipalities of Røst, Loppa and Skjervøy have cormorants in their coat of arms. The symbolic liver bird of Liverpool is commonly thought to be a cross between an eagle and a cormorant.


title: Cormorant

text: In Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus (Ulysses) is saved by a compassionate sea nymph who takes the form of a cormorant.


title: Cormorant

text: In 1853, a woman wearing a dress made of cormorant feathers was found on San Nicolas Island, off the southern coast of California. She had sewn the feather dress together using whale sinews. She is known as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas and was later baptised "Juana Maria" (her original name is lost). The woman had lived alone on the island for 18 years before being rescued. When removed from San Nicolas, she brought with her a green cormorant dress she made; this dress is reported to have been removed to the Vatican.


title: Cormorant

text: The bird has inspired numerous writers, including Amy Clampitt, who wrote a poem called "The Cormorant in its Element". The species she described may have been the pelagic cormorant, which is the only species in the temperate U.S. with the "slim head ... vermilion-strapped" and "big black feet" that she mentions.


title: Cormorant

text: A cormorant representing Blanche Ingram appears in the first of the fictional paintings by Jane in Charlotte Brontë's novel "Jane Eyre".


title: Cormorant

text: In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger", Dr. Watson warns that if there are further attempts to get at and destroy his private notes regarding his time with Holmes, "the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant will be given to the public. There is at least one reader who will understand."


title: Cormorant

text: A cormorant is humorously mentioned as having had linseed oil rubbed into it by a wayward pupil during the "Growth and Learning" segment of the 1983 Monty Python movie "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life".


title: Cormorant

text: Cormorants (and books about them written by a fictional ornithologist) are a recurring fascination of the protagonist in Jesse Ball's 2018 novel "Census".


title: Cormorant

text: The Pokémon Cramorant, featured in the 8th generation of the video game series may take its name and design from a cormorant.


title: Cormorant

text: The cormorant was chosen as the emblem for the Ministry of Defence Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham. A bird famed for flight, sea fishing and land nesting was felt to be particularly appropriate for a college that unified leadership training and development for the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force.


title: Cormorant

text: After a member produced a mock magazine cover from a photograph of roosting Cormorants, the bird became the unofficial mascot of the Pentax Discuss Mailing List with many posts dedicated to discussion of the photography of the species.


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: Stefán Karl Stefánsson (; ; 10 July 1975 – 21 August 2018) was an Icelandic actor and singer. He was best known for portraying Robbie Rotten, the antagonist of the children's television series "LazyTown".


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: Stefán Karl's career started in 1994 at the age of 19, when he worked as a puppeteer for television. During his years as a puppeteer, he had also been studying at the Drama Academy of Iceland. However, he was unsatisfied with the perspectives of Icelandic drama standards. He recalled that his principal at his high school said that "acting is not about making faces and changing your face", which he disagreed with.


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: Later, Stefán Karl was invited by Magnús Scheving, an Icelandic gymnast, to portray one of the characters in the second "LazyTown" play. Scheving created the plays due to his concerns about Iceland's younger generation lacking sufficient physical exercise. Stefánsson explained that "[Magnús] wanted the kids to get healthier, so he created this musical called "LazyTown". He played Sportacus, the fitness fanatic, and I was Robbie Rotten, the guy who liked to stay indoors and sleep". After initial success with the musical, Nickelodeon eventually made a deal with the creators of "LazyTown" to air the first 40 episodes of "LazyTown" along with a special studio built in Iceland. During the first few years of "LazyTown" in the early 2000s, Stefán Karl initially knew no English, but he soon became fluent.


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: Stefán Karl lived in Los Angeles with wife Steinunn Ólína Þorsteinsdóttir, three daughters, and one son. In June 2018, he was awarded the Order of the Falcon. Stefánsson was the nephew of actor and comedian Magnús Ólafsson and cousin of former footballer Hörður Magnússon.


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: Stefán Karl announced in October 2016 that he had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer. A GoFundMe campaign was subsequently created by "LazyTown" head writer Mark Valenti to cover his living costs when he became too ill to work. The campaign was popularized by various YouTube users uploading parodies of Stefán Karl's work, and linking to the GoFundMe page, which led to the songs "We Are Number One" and "The Mine Song" from "LazyTown" becoming Internet memes. In August 2017, Stefán Karl stated he was in remission. He clarified on his GoFundMe campaign that while his metastases had been removed after successful liver surgery in June 2017, he still had the disease and had refused further adjuvant therapy.


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: In March 2018, Stefán Karl's cancer was diagnosed as inoperable. He said that he was undergoing chemotherapy to prolong his life. In April 2018, he announced that he had chosen to discontinue chemotherapy, and proceeded to shut down all his social media accounts.


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: Stefán Karl died on 21 August 2018 at the age of 43. His wife stated that "Per Stefan's wishes, there will be no funeral. His earthly remains will be scattered in secrecy in a distant ocean."


title: Stefán Karl Stefánsson

text: His manager, Cheryl Edison, announced that the Stefán Karl Academy & Center for the Performing Arts would be launched in Switzerland in 2019 as a memorial to his career. Several internet petitions have been started calling for a statue of Stefán Karl to be erected in his home town of Hafnarfjörður. As of June 2022, it has received over 528,000 signatures.


title: John Mills

text: Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portrayed guileless, wounded war heroes. In 1971, he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in "Ryan's Daughter".


title: John Mills

text: For his work in film Mills was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1976. In 2002, he received a BAFTA Fellowship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company.


title: John Mills

text: John Mills was born on 22 February 1908 in North Elmham, Norfolk, the son of Edith Mills (née Baker), a theatre box office manager, and Lewis Mills, a mathematics teacher.


title: John Mills

text: He spent his early years in the village of Belton where his father was the headmaster of the village school. He first felt the thrill of performing at a concert in the school hall when he was six years old.


title: John Mills

text: He then lived in a modest house on Gainsborough Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk until 1929. His elder sister was Annette Mills, remembered as presenter of BBC Television's "Muffin the Mule" (1946–55).


title: John Mills

text: He was educated at Balham Grammar School in London, Sir John Leman High School in Beccles and Norwich High School for Boys, where it is said that his initials can still be seen carved into the brickwork on the side of the building in Upper St Giles Street. Upon leaving school he worked as a clerk at a corn merchant's in Ipswich before finding employment in London as a commercial traveller for the Sanitas Disinfectant Company.


title: John Mills

text: In September 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Mills enlisted in the British Army, joining the Royal Engineers. He was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, but in 1942 he received a medical discharge because of a stomach ulcer.


title: John Mills

text: Mills took an early interest in acting, making his professional début at the London Hippodrome in "The Five O'Clock Girl" in 1929. He followed this with a cabaret act.


title: John Mills

text: Mills then got a job with a theatrical company that toured India, China and the Far East performing a number of plays. Noël Coward saw him appear in a production of "Journey's End" in Singapore and wrote Mills a letter of introduction to use back in London.


title: John Mills

text: On his return Mills starred in "The 1931 Revue", Coward's "Cavalcade" (1931) and the Noël Coward revue "Words and Music" (1932).


title: John Mills

text: He made his film debut in "The Midshipmaid" (1932). He also appeared in "The Ghost Camera" (1933) with Ida Lupino and "Britannia of Billingsgate" (1934).


title: John Mills

text: Mills was promoted to leading roles in "A Political Party" (1934), a comedy. He was in a series of quota quickies: "The River Wolves" (1934); "Those Were the Days" (1934), the first film of Will Hay; "The Lash" (1934); "Blind Justice" (1934); "Doctor's Orders" (1934); and "Car of Dreams" (1935). He did "Jill Darling" (1934) on stage and was one of many names in "Royal Cavalcade" (1935).


title: John Mills

text: Mills had the star role in an A film, "Brown on Resolution" (1935). It was back to quota quickies for "Charing Cross Road" (1935) and "The First Offence" (1936). He had another excellent part in an "A", playing Lord Guildford Dudley in "Tudor Rose" (1936). He did "Aren't Men Beasts?" (1936) on stage and worked for Hollywood director Raoul Walsh in "O.H.M.S." (1937).


title: John Mills

text: Mills starred in "The Green Cockatoo" (1937) directed by William Cameron Menzies. He appeared as Colley in the hugely popular 1939 film version of "Goodbye, Mr Chips", opposite Robert Donat.


title: John Mills

text: At the Old Vic he was in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1939), "She Stoops to Conquer" (1939) and "Of Mice and Men" (1939–40). He joined the army in 1939 but occasionally made films on leave. He went back to movies with "Old Bill and Son" (1940) and made "Cottage to Let" (1941), a war film for Anthony Asquith. Mills went back to supporting Will Hay in "The Black Sheep of Whitehall" (1942) and he was one of many names in the war film, "The Big Blockade" (1942).


title: John Mills

text: He was in "Men in Shadow" (1942) on stage, written by his wife. He achieved acclaim for his performance as an able seaman in Noël Coward's "In Which We Serve" (1942), a huge hit. Mills had another good support role in "The Young Mr. Pitt" (1942) playing William Wilberforce opposite Robert Donat. He was invalided out of the army in 1942.


title: John Mills

text: Mills's climb to stardom began when he had the lead role in "We Dive at Dawn" (1943), a film directed by Asquith about submariners. He was top billed in "This Happy Breed" (1944), directed by David Lean and adapted from a Noël Coward play.


title: John Mills

text: Also popular was "Waterloo Road" (1945), from Sidney Gilliat, in which Mills played a man who goes AWOL to retrieve his wife from a draft-dodger (played by Stewart Granger). Mills played a pilot in "The Way to the Stars" (1945), directed by Asquith from a script by Terence Rattigan, and another big hit in Britain. He did "Duet for Two Hands" (1945) on stage.


title: John Mills

text: Mills had his greatest success to date as Pip in "Great Expectations" (1946), directed by David Lean. It was the third biggest hit at the British box office that year and Mills was voted the sixth most popular star.


title: John Mills

text: Less successful critically and financially was "So Well Remembered" (1947) which used American writers and directors. "The October Man" (1947) was a mildly popular thriller from Roy Ward Baker.


title: John Mills

text: Mills played the title role in "Scott of the Antarctic" (1948), a biopic of Captain Scott. It was the fourth most watched film of the year in Britain and Mills was the eighth biggest star.


title: John Mills

text: Mills turned producer with "The History of Mr Polly" (1949) from the novel by H. G. Wells. It was directed by Anthony Pelissier and Mills said it was his favorite film. Pelisse also made "The Rocking Horse Winner" (1949) which Mills produced; he also played a small role. More liked at the box office was a submarine drama, "Morning Departure" (1950), directed by Baker. By this stage his fee was a reported £20,000 a film.


title: John Mills

text: After "Morning Departure" Mills took almost two years off. The films he made on his return were not popular: a thriller, "Mr Denning Drives North" (1951); "The Gentle Gunman" (1952), where he and Dirk Bogarde played IRA gunmen for Basil Dearden; "The Long Memory" (1953), a thriller from Robert Hamer.


title: John Mills

text: Mills had his first hit in a number of years with "Hobson's Choice" (1954), directed by Lean. He appeared in the war film "The Colditz Story" (1955).


title: John Mills

text: Mills played a supporting role in a movie for MGM, "The End of the Affair" (1955), with Deborah Kerr and Van Johnson. More liked in Britain was another war story, "Above Us the Waves" (1955); this was sixth most popular film at the British box office that year, and helped Mills become the fifth most popular star in the country.


title: John Mills

text: After "Escapade" (1955), Mills made the popular military comedy "The Baby and the Battleship" (1956), one of the biggest hits of 1956. Also on that list was another Mills comedy, "It's Great to Be Young" (1956).


title: John Mills

text: Mills had a key support role as a peasant in "War and Peace" (1956) and made a cameo in "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956).


title: John Mills

text: Mills appeared in the thrillers: "Town on Trial" (1957) directed by John Guillermin and "The Vicious Circle" (1957). More popular with the public were the war films: "Dunkirk" (1958), the second most popular film of the year in Britain; "Ice Cold in Alex" (1958), directed by J. Lee Thompson; and "I Was Monty's Double"'(1958), directed by Guillermin.


title: John Mills

text: In the 1959 crime drama "Tiger Bay", directed by Thompson, Mills played a police detective investigating a murder that a young girl has witnessed. His daughter Hayley was cast, and earned excellent reviews.


title: John Mills

text: Mills went to Australia to play a cane cutter in the Hollywood financed "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" (1959).


title: John Mills

text: Better received was "Tunes of Glory" (1960), a military drama directed by Ronald Neame co-starring Alec Guinness. Mills's performance earned him a Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival.


title: John Mills

text: Walt Disney saw "Tiger Bay" and offered Hayley Mills the lead role in "Pollyanna" (1960). Disney also offered John Mills the lead in the adventure film "Swiss Family Robinson" (1960), which was a huge hit. He did "Ross" (1960–61) on stage.


title: John Mills

text: The Rank Organisation insisted Mills play the role of the priest in "The Singer Not the Song" (1961) opposite Dirk Bogarde. Mills and Baker reteamed on an interracial drama "Flame in the Streets" (1961) and an Italian-British war film "The Valiant" (1962).


title: John Mills

text: Mills did a comedy with James Mason, "Tiara Tahiti" (1962). He had a support role in "The Chalk Garden" (1964) starring Hayley.


title: John Mills

text: After a cameo on the war film "Operation Crossbow" (1965), Mills made a third film with his daughter, "The Truth About Spring" (1965). He had a cameo in "King Rat" (1965) for Bryan Forbes, who then directed Mills in "The Wrong Box" (1966). Mills played Hayley's father-in-law on screen in "The Family Way" (1966). He then directed her in "Sky West and Crooked" (1966) from a script written by his wife.


title: John Mills

text: He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" on two occasions, firstly in 1960 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews outside Pinewood Studios, and again in 1983 when Eamonn surprised him on the stage of London's Wyndham's Theatre at the curtain call of the play Little Lies.


title: John Mills

text: Mills began to move into character roles, supporting Hugh O'Brian in "Africa Texas Style" (1967) and Rod Taylor in "Chuka" (1967). He went to Italy for a giallo, "A Black Veil for Lisa" (1968) and played William Hamilton in "Emma Hamilton" (1968).


title: John Mills

text: Mills had a cameo in "Oh! What a Lovely War" (1969) for director Richard Attenborough and supported Mark Lester (though he was top billed) in "Run Wild, Run Free" (1969). He went to Australia to star in a convict drama, "Adam's Woman" (1970).


title: John Mills

text: For his role as the village idiot in "Ryan's Daughter" (1970) — a complete departure from his usual style – Mills won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.


title: John Mills

text: He was in "Dulcima" (1971) then had support roles in "Young Winston" (1972) for Attenborough, "Lady Caroline Lamb" (1972), and "Oklahoma Crude" (1973). On stage he did "Veterans" at the Royal Court, "At the End of the Day" (1973), "The Good Companions" (1974), "Great Expectations" (1975) and "Separate Tables" (1977).


title: John Mills

text: Also on the small screen, in 1974 he starred as Captain Tommy "The Elephant" Devon in the six-part television drama series "The Zoo Gang", about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II, with Brian Keith, Lilli Palmer and Barry Morse.


title: John Mills

text: In the late 1970s Mills could still get lead roles in films, as shown by "The "Human" Factor" (1975), "Trial by Combat" (1976), and "The Devil's Advocate" (1977). He had filmed supporting roles in "The Big Sleep" (1978) and "The Thirty Nine Steps" (1978).


title: John Mills

text: His most famous television role was probably as the title character in "Quatermass" for ITV in 1979. He followed this with a sitcom in "Young at Heart" (1980–82).


title: John Mills

text: On the big screen he was now mainly playing upper crust types as in "Zulu Dawn" (1979), "Gandhi" (1982), and "Sahara" (1983). He performed "Goodbye Mr Chips" on stage (1982) followed by "Little Lies" (1983).


title: John Mills

text: In 1986 he did "The Petition" at the National and the following year did "Pygmalion" on Broadway. He provided a voice for "When the Wind Blows" (1986) and supported Madonna in "Who's That Girl" (1987). His best roles were on TV in "Harnessing Peacocks" (1993) and "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1994). Mills also starred as "" in the filmed version of the musical "Cats" in 1998.


title: John Mills

text: In 2000, Mills released his extensive home cine-film footage in a documentary film entitled "Sir John Mills's Moving Memories", with interviews with Mills, his children Hayley, Juliet and Jonathan and Richard Attenborough. The film was produced and written by Jonathan Mills, directed and edited by Marcus Dillistone, and features behind the scenes footage and stories from films such as "Ice Cold in Alex" and "Dunkirk". In addition the film also includes home footage of many of Mills's friends and fellow cast members including Laurence Olivier, Harry Andrews, Walt Disney, David Niven, Dirk Bogarde, Rex Harrison and Tyrone Power. He portrayed a charming old gent as head of an art museum in the 1997 "Mr. Bean". Mills's last cinema appearance was playing a tramp in "Lights 2" (directed by Marcus Dillistone); the cinematographer was Jack Cardiff. They had last worked together on "Scott of the Antarctic" in 1948.


title: John Mills

text: His first wife was the actress Aileen Raymond, who died only five days after he did. They were married in 1932 and divorced in 1941. Raymond later became the mother of actor Ian Ogilvy.


title: John Mills

text: His second wife was the dramatist Mary Hayley Bell. Their marriage, on 16 January 1941, lasted for 64 years until his death in 2005. They were married in a rushed civil ceremony, because of the war; it was not until sixty years later that they were married in a church. They lived in The Wick, London, for many years. They sold the house to musician Ronnie Wood in 1971 and moved to Hills House, Denham, south Buckinghamshire.


title: John Mills

text: Mills and Bell had two daughters, Juliet, star of television's "Nanny and the Professor" and Hayley, a Disney child star who appeared in "Pollyanna", "The Parent Trap" and "Whistle Down the Wind", and one son, Jonathan Mills, a screenwriter. In 1947, Mills appeared with his daughters in the film "So Well Remembered". The three also appeared together decades later, on an episode of ABC's "The Love Boat". Mills's grandson by Hayley, Crispian Mills, is a musician, best known for his work with the raga rock group Kula Shaker.


title: John Mills

text: In the years leading up to his death, he appeared on television only on special occasions, his sight having failed almost completely by 1992. After that, his film roles were brief cameos. He wrote an autobiography entitled "Up in the Clouds, Gentlemen Please", which was published in 1980 and revised in 2001.


title: John Mills

text: Mills died on 23 April 2005 in Denham, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 97, following a stroke. His second wife died on 1 December 2005. They are buried in St Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Denham, Buckinghamshire.


title: John Mills

text: Mills was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1960. In 1976 he was knighted by the Queen.


title: John Mills

text: In 1999, at 91 years of age, Mills became the oldest joining member of the entertainment charitable fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats.


title: John Mills

text: In 2002, he received a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), their highest award, and was named a Disney Legend by the Walt Disney Company.


title: John Mills

text: For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted him among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the "Motion Picture Herald".


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is, in essence, the transportation system of the eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. It is a type of organelle made up of two subunits – rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER), and smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER). The endoplasmic reticulum is found in most eukaryotic cells and forms an interconnected network of flattened, membrane-enclosed sacs known as cisternae (in the RER), and tubular structures in the SER. The membranes of the ER are continuous with the outer nuclear membrane. The endoplasmic reticulum is not found in red blood cells, or spermatozoa.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The two types of ER share many of the same proteins and engage in certain common activities such as the synthesis of certain lipids and cholesterol. Different types of cells contain different ratios of the two types of ER depending on the activities of the cell. RER is found mainly toward the nucleus of cell and SER towards the cell membrane or plasma membrane of cell.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The outer (cytosolic) face of the RER is studded with ribosomes that are the sites of protein synthesis. The RER is especially prominent in cells such as hepatocytes. The SER lacks ribosomes and functions in lipid synthesis but not metabolism, the production of steroid hormones, and detoxification. The SER is especially abundant in mammalian liver and gonad cells.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The ER was observed with light microscope by Garnier in 1897, who coined the term "ergastoplasm". With electron microscopy, the lacy membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum were first seen in 1945 by Keith R. Porter, Albert Claude, and Ernest F. Fullam. Later, the word "reticulum", which means "network", was applied by Porter in 1953 to describe this fabric of membranes.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The general structure of the endoplasmic reticulum is a network of membranes called cisternae. These sac-like structures are held together by the cytoskeleton. The phospholipid membrane encloses the cisternal space (or lumen), which is continuous with the perinuclear space but separate from the cytosol. The functions of the endoplasmic reticulum can be summarized as the synthesis and export of proteins and membrane lipids, but varies between ER and cell type and cell function. The quantity of both rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum in a cell can slowly interchange from one type to the other, depending on the changing metabolic activities of the cell. Transformation can include embedding of new proteins in membrane as well as structural changes. Changes in protein content may occur without noticeable structural changes.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The surface of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (often abbreviated "RER" or "rough ER"; also called "granular endoplasmic reticulum") is studded with protein-manufacturing ribosomes giving it a "rough" appearance (hence its name). The binding site of the ribosome on the rough endoplasmic reticulum is the translocon. However, the ribosomes are not a stable part of this organelle's structure as they are constantly being bound and released from the membrane. A ribosome only binds to the RER once a specific protein-nucleic acid complex forms in the cytosol. This special complex forms when a free ribosome begins translating the mRNA of a protein destined for the secretory pathway. The first 5–30 amino acids polymerized encode a signal peptide, a molecular message that is recognized and bound by a signal recognition particle (SRP). Translation pauses and the ribosome complex binds to the RER translocon where translation continues with the nascent (new) protein forming into the RER lumen and/or membrane. The protein is processed in the ER lumen by an enzyme (a signal peptidase), which removes the signal peptide. Ribosomes at this point may be released back into the cytosol; however, non-translating ribosomes are also known to stay associated with translocons.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The membrane of the rough endoplasmic reticulum forms large double-membrane sheets that are located near, and continuous with, the outer layer of the nuclear envelope. The double membrane sheets are stacked and connected through several right- or left-handed helical ramps, the "Terasaki ramps", giving rise to a structure resembling a parking garage. Although there is no continuous membrane between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus, membrane-bound transport vesicles shuttle proteins between these two compartments. Vesicles are surrounded by coating proteins called COPI and COPII. COPII targets vesicles to the Golgi apparatus and COPI marks them to be brought back to the rough endoplasmic reticulum. The rough endoplasmic reticulum works in concert with the Golgi complex to target new proteins to their proper destinations. The second method of transport out of the endoplasmic reticulum involves areas called membrane contact sites, where the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum and other organelles are held closely together, allowing the transfer of lipids and other small molecules.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: In most cells the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (abbreviated SER) is scarce. Instead there are areas where the ER is partly smooth and partly rough, this area is called the transitional ER. The transitional ER gets its name because it contains ER exit sites. These are areas where the transport vesicles that contain lipids and proteins made in the ER, detach from the ER and start moving to the Golgi apparatus. Specialized cells can have a lot of smooth endoplasmic reticulum and in these cells the smooth ER has many functions. It synthesizes lipids, phospholipids, and steroids. Cells which secrete these products, such as those in the testes, ovaries, and sebaceous glands have an abundance of smooth endoplasmic reticulum. It also carries out the metabolism of carbohydrates, detoxification of natural metabolism products and of alcohol and drugs, attachment of receptors on cell membrane proteins, and steroid metabolism. In muscle cells, it regulates calcium ion concentration. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum is found in a variety of cell types (both animal and plant), and it serves different functions in each. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum also contains the enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase, which converts glucose-6-phosphate to glucose, a step in gluconeogenesis. It is connected to the nuclear envelope and consists of tubules that are located near the cell periphery. These tubes sometimes branch forming a network that is reticular in appearance. In some cells, there are dilated areas like the sacs of rough endoplasmic reticulum. The network of smooth endoplasmic reticulum allows for an increased surface area to be devoted to the action or storage of key enzymes and the products of these enzymes.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), from the Greek σάρξ "sarx" ("flesh"), is smooth ER found in muscle cells. The only structural difference between this organelle and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum is the composition of proteins they have, both bound to their membranes and drifting within the confines of their lumens. This fundamental difference is indicative of their functions: The endoplasmic reticulum synthesizes molecules, while the sarcoplasmic reticulum stores calcium ions and pumps them out into the sarcoplasm when the muscle fiber is stimulated. After their release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, calcium ions interact with contractile proteins that utilize ATP to shorten the muscle fiber. The sarcoplasmic reticulum plays a major role in excitation-contraction coupling.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The endoplasmic reticulum serves many general functions, including the folding of protein molecules in sacs called cisternae and the transport of synthesized proteins in vesicles to the Golgi apparatus. Rough endoplasmic reticulum is also involved in protein synthesis. Correct folding of newly made proteins is made possible by several endoplasmic reticulum chaperone proteins, including protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), ERp29, the Hsp70 family member BiP/Grp78, calnexin, calreticulin, and the peptidylprolyl isomerase family. Only properly folded proteins are transported from the rough ER to the Golgi apparatus – unfolded proteins cause an unfolded protein response as a stress response in the ER. Disturbances in redox regulation, calcium regulation, glucose deprivation, and viral infection or the over-expression of proteins can lead to endoplasmic reticulum stress response (ER stress), a state in which the folding of proteins slows, leading to an increase in unfolded proteins. This stress is emerging as a potential cause of damage in hypoxia/ischemia, insulin resistance, and other disorders.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: Secretory proteins, mostly glycoproteins, are moved across the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Proteins that are transported by the endoplasmic reticulum throughout the cell are marked with an address tag called a signal sequence. The N-terminus (one end) of a polypeptide chain (i.e., a protein) contains a few amino acids that work as an address tag, which are removed when the polypeptide reaches its destination. Nascent peptides reach the ER via the translocon, a membrane-embedded multiprotein complex. Proteins that are destined for places outside the endoplasmic reticulum are packed into transport vesicles and moved along the cytoskeleton toward their destination. In human fibroblasts, the ER is always co-distributed with microtubules and the depolymerisation of the latter cause its co-aggregation with mitochondria, which are also associated with the ER.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The endoplasmic reticulum is also part of a protein sorting pathway. It is, in essence, the transportation system of the eukaryotic cell. The majority of its resident proteins are retained within it through a retention motif. This motif is composed of four amino acids at the end of the protein sequence. The most common retention sequences are KDEL for lumen located proteins and KKXX for transmembrane protein. However, variations of KDEL and KKXX do occur, and other sequences can also give rise to endoplasmic reticulum retention. It is not known whether such variation can lead to sub-ER localizations. There are three KDEL (1, 2 and 3) receptors in mammalian cells, and they have a very high degree of sequence identity. The functional differences between these receptors remain to be established.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The endoplasmic reticulum does not harbor an ATP-regeneration machinery, and therefore requires ATP import from mitochondria. The imported ATP is vital for the ER to carry out its house keeping cellular functions, such as for protein folding and trafficking.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The ER ATP transporter, SLC35B1/AXER, was recently cloned and characterized, and the mitochondria supply ATP to the ER through a "Ca-antagonized transport into the ER" ("CaATiER") mechanism. The "CaATiER" mechanism shows sensitivity to cytosolic Ca ranging from high nM to low μM range, with the Ca-sensing element yet to be identified and validated.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: Increased and supraphysiological ER stress in pancreatic β cells disrupts normal insulin secretion, leading to hyperinsulinemia and consequently peripheral insulin resistance associated with obesity in humans. Human clinical trials also suggested a causal link between obesity-induced increase in insulin secretion and peripheral insulin resistance.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: Abnormalities in XBP1 lead to a heightened endoplasmic reticulum stress response and subsequently causes a higher susceptibility for inflammatory processes that may even contribute to Alzheimer's disease. In the colon, XBP1 anomalies have been linked to the inflammatory bowel diseases including Crohn's disease.


title: Endoplasmic reticulum

text: The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a cellular stress response related to the endoplasmic reticulum. The UPR is activated in response to an accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. The UPR functions to restore normal function of the cell by halting protein translation, degrading misfolded proteins, and activating the signaling pathways that lead to increasing the production of molecular chaperones involved in protein folding. Sustained overactivation of the UPR has been implicated in prion diseases as well as several other neurodegenerative diseases and the inhibition of the UPR could become a treatment for those diseases.


title: Edie Brickell

text: Edie Arlisa Brickell (born March 10, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter widely known for 1988's "Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars", the debut album by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, which went to No. 4 on the "Billboard" albums chart. She is married to singer-songwriter Paul Simon.


title: Edie Brickell

text: Brickell was born in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas to Larry Jean (Sellers) Linden and Paul Edward Brickell. She was raised with her older sister, Laura Strain. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, and later studied at Southern Methodist University until she joined a band and decided to focus on songwriting.


title: Edie Brickell

text: In 1985, Brickell was invited to sing one night with friends from her high school in a local folk rock group, New Bohemians. She joined the band as lead singer. After the band was signed to a recording contract, the label changed the group's name to Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Their 1988 debut album, "Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars", became a critical and commercial success, including the Top Ten single "What I Am". The band's follow-up album, "Ghost of a Dog" (1990), was a deliberate effort to highlight the band's eclectic personality and move away from the pop sound of their first record.


title: Edie Brickell

text: The band sporadically played gigs after the album "Ghost of a Dog" in 1990, and in 2006 released "Stranger Things". In 2018 they announced their latest album, "Rocket", along with dates for a US tour. The band released their fifth studio album Hunter and the Dog Star in 2021 available on CD and vinyl.


title: Edie Brickell

text: Brickell had a role as a folk singer in the 1989 film "Born on the Fourth of July". Her version of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is featured on the film's soundtrack. She also sang a cover version of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" in the 1990 film "Flashback".


title: Edie Brickell

text: As a solo artist, Brickell released "Picture Perfect Morning" (1994) and "Volcano" (2003). The video for "Picture Perfect Morning"'s "Good Times" was included as part of the multimedia samples featured on Microsoft's "Windows 95 Companion" CD-ROM. In 1992, she worked with producer Bob Wiseman in New York and Toronto on a collection of songs, utilizing a wind ensemble, unusual keyboards, and Ron Sexsmith. The songs were rejected by the record company and remained unreleased.


title: Edie Brickell

text: In 2010, Brickell became a founding member of new band The Gaddabouts, consisting of Steve Gadd on drums, Edie Brickell as lead vocalist and guitar, Andy Fairweather Low on electric and acoustic guitars and background vocals, Pino Palladino on bass and guitar, and featuring Dan Block, Ronnie Cuber, Joey DeFrancesco, Gil Goldstein, and Marcus Rojas. In 2011, Brickell wrote the title track, "The Meaning of Life", for Tamar Halpern's film, "Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life".


title: Edie Brickell

text: "Love Has Come for You" was released on April 23, 2013. The album is a collaboration with Steve Martin. Both appeared on talk shows, such as "The View" and "Late Show with David Letterman", to promote the album in April 2013.


title: Edie Brickell

text: In 2016, the musical "Bright Star"to which she contributed music, lyrics, and storyopened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre.


title: Edie Brickell

text: In 2017, Brickell and Martin appeared in the documentary film "The American Epic Sessions" directed by Bernard MacMahon. They recorded "The Coo Coo Bird", a traditional English folk song, live on the first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. The track appeared on the accompanying soundtrack, "."