Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Fixed Income Securities Market in Pakistan

Fixed Income Securities Market in Pakistan Free Online Research Papers A well functioning bond market is imperative for the development of a nation’s economy and ensuring the financial sector stability. This paper gives an overview of the current structure of Fixed Income Securities Market Pakistan and its functioning. The paper also focuses on the key obstacles which are in Pakistan’s way to make its bond market strong, deep and liquid. Suggestions are also given to remove the impediment from the development of an efficient Fixed Income Securities Market in Pakistan. Introduction An efficient fixed income security market, both government and corporate, is highly gratifying for the swift development of any economy as it leads to the efficient mobilization of resources for long-term investment. Governments can help achieve the allocative efficiency from the Market based Government Debt Securities . The frequent issues of securities of various maturities by the government helps building a yield curve that serves as the benchmark for the issuance of corporate debt securities. Raising funds through bonds saves the company from the cumbersome procedure of issuing equity. Companies know their interest expenditures before hand and this known cost of capital helps them in planning budgeting process. A strong bond market offers an alternative source of financing to companies other than banks. This alternative source of financing was quoted as â€Å"the spare tire† of economy by the former Federal Reserve Chairman Allan Greenspan . Lack of an efficient bond market is often seen as the primary reason behind the Asian Crisis. The banking sector could not stand in front of the Asian Crisis of 1997, FDI started flying back and the financial system had nothing to offer in terms of capital as the inability of the emerging markets of Asia to borrow long term in local currencies had resulted in very weak fixed income securities markets and this â€Å"Spare tire† was not available to the crisis struck countries. This shifted the focus of policy makers towa rds the creation of an efficient bond market. However, many crisis ridden emerging economies still lag behind in terms of the bond markets (Table-1) Table-1 Country Bond Market as % of GDP Country Bond Market as % of GDP India 0.4 Malaysia 38.2 China 0.7 USA 22 Brazil 0.6 Korea 21.1 Russia 1.5 Japan 16.3 Global Financial Stability Report-2005, IMF So, a strong efficient bond market and a strong banking sector offer healthy competition to each other and by complimenting each other ensure financial stability even if one source in under stress. 1. Country Background Pakistan inherited an undersized and undeveloped financial structure after the independence. The financial structure that we have today in Pakistan is the result of many experiments, policy shifts and developments. We can segregate the eras of policy shifts developments into following periods; Till 1971, the primary focus was of the governments was on the development of commercial banks in the private sector and creating Development Institutions backed by government. The 1947-1960 era was marked with private sector development while the focus during the 1960-1971 was on the development of public sector institutions e.g. KPT, SSGCL, SNGP etc. The private sector development almost clogged during the 1971-1990, owing to the nationalization policy of the Z.A Bhutto regime and non-friendly policy towards private businesses by their predecessors. The banking sector came into government’s control during this period. The government, however, followed more liberal and market based reform in the post 1990 era. The fixed income securities market followed the similar shift as shown in the above given developments. The initial phase of the fixed income securities market is from 1947 to 1990. The government, federal as well as provincial, used to borrow on tap instruments and captive funding. Owing to the concessionary loans available from the state bank, the federal government could finance its fiscal deficits from these loans. So, till 1990s, there was no scope for the development of an efficient government securities market that could provide a benchmark yield curve for the development of a private sector bond market The government issued prize bonds in 1960s and some NSS schemes but since they were all on TAP so there could not develop a secondary market for them. In 1960s and 1970s the debentures issued by Pakistani corporations were listed on the stock exchanges with a very limited secondary market. Prior to 1990, the biggest issue of bonds by some corporation was by WAPDA (Table-2). This issue was a failure and the reasons are mentioned below. However, there is strong opinion that the debentures issued by WAPDA failed because the market was very immature for such kind of move. . Issuing Corporation WAPDA Issuance Year 1988 Funds Generated RS 22.5 billion Experience Failure Reason WAPDA was unable to payback on maturity due to insufficient funds No Secondary Market Table-2 Post 1990 Era The post 1990 era was marked with liberal reforms market based reforms by the government in the economy. This is the era in which Pakistan came into the fixed income Securities Market. We can segregate the post 1990 bond market into 1) Government Debt Securities, 2) Corporate Debt Securities. 2. Government Debt Securities The government of Pakistan has run over large fiscal deficits over the two decades. The fiscal deficit stands at $373 billion in fiscal year 2006-07 . This has resulted into the accumulation of large domestic debt of Rs. 2511 billion in fiscal year 2006-07 3.1 PIBs- Pakistan Investment Bonds Government of Pakistan issued long term paper (FIBs) in 1992, with this came into being the long term yield curve so the corporate enteritis to benchmark and issue their own long term securities. The auction of FIBs was stopped in 1998 due to less response by the public on the declining earnings on these instruments. At that time, there was no long term marketable government security that could meet the investment needs of institutional investors. The, government, in order to develop the longer end of its debt market for creating a benchmark yield curve and to enhance the corporate debt market, decided to launch Pakistan Investment Bonds in December 2000. These bonds have the following characteristics Issued in five tenors of 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20-years maturity. Primary Dealer maintains a Subsidiary General Ledger Account (SGLA) with SBP for the settlement purpose Purchased by individuals, institutions and corporate bodies including banks irrespective of their residential status. SBP Ministry of Finance announce the coupon rates and the target amounts after consulting each other Profit is Paid Semiannually The PIBs represent 63% of total permanent debt while 13.23% of the total domestic debt by March 2007. 3.2 MTBs Market Treasury Bills are the short term securities for government borrowing. They have the following Characteristics; Issued in three tenors of 3-month, 6-month and 12-months maturity Zero Coupon bonds sold at a discount to their face values Purchased by individuals, institutions and corporate bodies including banks irrespective of their residential status. Primary Dealer maintains a Subsidiary General Ledger Account (SGLA) with SBP for the settlement purpose The outstanding amount of MTBs as of March 2007 is Rs. 1086.25 billion (43.25% of total Domestic Debt) 3.3 Auction Process for Government Securities State bank of Pakistan acts as an agent for the government to raise the short term long term funds from the market. State Bank sells the MTBs and PIBs to the 10 primary Dealers through price sealed bids auction. The 10 primary dealers are: ABN Amro Bank NV Citibank Habib Bank Limited JS Bank Limited MCB Bank Limited National Bank of Pakistan Pak Oman Investment Co. Prime Commercial Bank Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited United Bank Limited The auction of MTBs is done on a fixed schedule on fortnightly basis while the auction of PIBs is done under Jumbo issuance mechanism under which the previous issues are reopened in order to enhance their liquidity in the secondary market. Domestic Debt Profile of Pakistan-March 2007 Domestic Debt $2511.969Billion Permanent Debt 528.802 Market Loans 3.026 Federal Government Bonds 9.313 Income Tax Bonds 0.022 Government Bonds 0.052 Special Governemnt Bonds for SLIC ( capitalization) 0.585 Bearer National Fund Bonds(BNFB) 0.007 Special National Fund Bonds 0.001 Government Bonds (issued to HBL for settlement of CBR Refund) 9,805 9805 Federal Investment Bonds(Auction) 3.331 Federal Investment Bonds (TAP) 0.001 Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) 332.534 Prize Bonds 170.126 F loating Debt $ 1086.524 billion Treasury Bills(3 Months) 0.013 Market Treasury Bills 556.67 MTBs for Replenishment 529.994 Unfunded Debt $ 896.643 billion Defence Savings Certificates 291041 National Deposit Certificates 0.023 Khas Deposit Certificates 0.28 Special Savings Certificates 143.528 Special Savings Certificates 0.286 Regular Income Certificates 572.23 Bahbood Savings Certificates 181.716 Khas Deposit Accounts 0.321 Savings Accounts 9.224 Special Savings Accounts 55.272 Mahana Amdani Accounts 2.479 Pensioners Benefit Accounts 66.903 Postal Life Insurance 67.122 GP Fund 20.723 Source-Economic Analysis Department, SBP 3. Corporate Debt Market/Statutory Debt Market The bond market in Pakistan saw its first corporate issuance in 1995 by Packages Limited. The trend of issuing TFCs could not pick up the pace till 2000 when government stopped the institutional investors to invest in NSS which proved to be highly beneficial for TFCs. Almost all the public offers were over-subscribed, this was also mainly due to the declining interest rates offered by banks and the National Savings Schemes (NSS). There is a great potential in the Pakistani debt market that is yet to be explored. Currently the corporate debt market is 1.12% of the total GDP. 4.1 TFCs The first TFC was issued in 1995 by the Packages Limited (Table-3). Table-3 Issuing Corporation Packages Limited Funds Raised RS 232 million Issuance Year 1995 Rating (PACRA) A+ Coupon Rate 18.50% The largest TFC was issued by PIA in 2003 (Table-4) Table-4 Issuing Corporation PIA Funds Raised RS 15.4 billion Issuance Year 2003 Reason Purchase of Boeing 777s Table-5 TFCs in Pakistan Type of Security Redeemable Debt Security Legislative Background Companies Ordinance, 1984 Distinctive Feature Sharia Compliance/ Interest Rate was termed as â€Å"Expected Profit Rate† Year of First Issue 1995 Largest Issue RS 15.4 billion Smallest Issue RS 100 million Average Issue RS 660 million Benchmark Rates KIBOR, DSCs Type of Interest Rate Floating The interest rates, however, are falling for TFCs (Table-5). A major reason can be the falling interest rates for KIBOR, NSS, PIB and discount rate (Graph-1). Moreover, the trend has shifted from non-financial institutions issuing TFCs to Banks issuing TFCs to raise their Tier II capital 4.2 Role of Credit Rating Agency There are two credit rating agencies in Pakistan. The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) was established in 1994 prior to the first public issue of Term Finance Certificate in 1995. PACRA is a joint venture between LSE Fitch-IBCA of UK. The second credit rating agency is DCR-VIS which is a joint venture between Duff Phelps Rating Agency Vital Information Services (a local company). The objectives of PACRA are to provide technical assistance for establishing operating procedures, establishing mechanisms for rating, the training of professional personnel Joint handling of rating process in initial stages, a review of public information on the client and its industry, preparation of agenda for discussion with the issuer. For this the agency meets the issuer, and has a rating committee meeting. During this meeting the agency holds a discussion and assignment of rating. The issuer is advised of the rating and the rating and report is made public Graph-1 Source: SBP â€Å"Fostering Bond Market in Pakistan†, Farhan Hameed 4. Impediments to Bond Market Development in Pakistan The economy of Pakistan is booming and there is a lot of potential for growth in the coming years. The governmental policies and the overall economic environment of the region promises a lot in terms of financial development, Pakistan is the fastest growing economy in south Asia and this has attracted many foreign investors. This is evident from the fact that in the fiscal year 2006-2007 the net foreign direct investment in the country was greater then $6billion. There is a vast potential that is yet to be explored in the fixed income securities market of Pakistan. There is widespread agreement among the government and private sector participants that Pakistan needs a viable bond market in order to mobilize private savings efficiently for long term investments. We can mention here some obstacles which are in the way to create a strong efficient bond market in the country. 5.1 Crowding Out by the Government Securities A very big hurdle in the development of an efficient corporate bond market in Pakistan is the fact that the Government Securities and the Corporate Securities both compete for the same pool of resources. The government has the advantage of being the risk free. Government attracts savings from the retail investors through NSS while from the institutional buyers through PIBs and MTBs. Since the government securities are risk free so their rates should be less than the TFCs which have more risk than the government securities but the TFCs are priced very close to the Defense Saving Certificates which are another type of government securities with 10 year maturity and government guarantee. So this very small difference of returns between a riskless investment (DSCs) risky investment (TFCs) make the later less attractive for the investor. So there lacks a level playing field between the government securities and that of corporate sector. 5.2 Lack of Benchmark Yield Curve There does not exist a credible long term yield curve which hinders the development of an efficient corporate bond market in Pakistan. PIBs are the long term papers issued by the government and there are two reasons behind for which they do not form a credible long term yield curve. First the interest rates on the PIBs are not market driven, government teds to keep them low while market expects them to be high. This is why since 2004 there has been only one successful auction of PIBs and other bids were rejected. Secondly, there is hardly any secondary market for the PIBs which undermine its status as the benchmark. Due to recent scraping of PIB’s auctions, its supply has decreased in the market which has resulted into increased prices of the bond so we see that prices have increased just because of a factor of demand and supply that has nothing to do with the actual attractiveness of the security and the state of the nation’s economy. Since government has the influence over the institutional investors so they buy government’s long term paper even at lower rates but even they don’t keep and trade the PIBs till maturity in order to avoid booking the capital losses. Since the PIBs by now means serve as the benchmark for the issuance of the corporate bonds so TFCs are issued by the corporate entities making the floating interest rates, like KIBOR, the benchmark rate. 5.3 Administrative Hurdles The issuance cost of TFC is a big hurdle in the way of development a strong bond market in Pakistan. In addition to the coupon rate of the bond, the costs include the stamp duty as 0.15 % of the face value, listing charges, trustee fee, advertising fee and rating charges. These issuing costs can really affect the development of a bond market. The cost of issuing in Japan was approximately 2.5 % of the face value that hampered the growth of the bond market in the country, as opposed to only 0.7% in USA. On the other hand SECP SBP are following discriminating policies towards the corporate bonds. State Bank of Pakistan does not consider the investment in TFCs eligible for SLR. However, SBP allowed the Sukuk Islamic Bonds issued by WAPDA to be the part of SLR â€Å"Statutory Liquidity requirement â€Å"of the banks. This shows a clear example of ad-hoc policies by the regulators. Such regulations shatter the investor confidence in the bond market. 5.4 Liquidity/ Secondary Market Although TFCs are listed on the stock exchanges but still there is hardly any trading. In the absence of well functioning secondary market investors demand higher premium for liquidity on TFCs which increases the cost of capital for the issuing firm. World over, the bonds are traded over the counter (OTC) and large corporate issues are encouraged. The scale of issues is very small in Pakistan and that means that even small trading can affect the price which is a negative aspect. Above all, the pricing and trading of bonds is highly complex mechanism which requires very sophisticated professionals financial analysts which are hardly available in a developing country like Pakistan. 5.5 Non-diverse Investor Base The major part of the government securities is in the form of MTBs and they are mostly bought by the financial institutions which use them for the REPOs. That’s why the bonds are only purchased by the banks only and are exchanged in between themselves. The diverse investor base is imperative for making the bond market less volatile and reducing the risk. A more diverse set of market players is considered beneficial to help eliminate the uniform direction and provide greater stability to the market. 5.6 Disclosure Requirements/Transparency Pakistani investors are more risk averse and they have always been prone to invest in NSS and gold which offer almost negligible risk. The transparency requirements have to be met by the companies in order to issue debt. Lack of transparency in local private firms makes them less likely to attract the investors by issuing debt, specially the foreign investors who are used to work in very regulated and transparent environment where hardly anything is left to chance. Most of the companies lack the reputation to qualify for a rating that could elicit a satisfactory public response 5. Recommendations The current economic circumstances in Pakistan satisfy many of the prerequisites for the development of an efficient fixed income securities market. A strong corporate debt market can flourish at the point where Pakistan is standing today with stable macroeconomic indicators and excellent banking system. However, still some steps are yet to be taken in order to take Pakistani bond market to its actual potential. Some of those steps are put as recommendations here; 6.1 Building a yield curve for the bond market The government should create a long term yield curve for the bonds this could be achieved through ensuring regular issues of the government bonds of various maturities. However, emphasize should be on building the long term yield curve which is almost non-existent in Pakistan. A benchmark yield curve helps in the pricing of other fixed income instruments. This would not only attract the new investors but will also help in enhancing the confidence of customers on the economic policies and the local itself. In order to ensure the regular supply of PIBs in the market, government should come up with a proper issuance calendar with clearly indicated targets. Government should borrow more from market at market rates rather than from the State Bank. Even if there does not exist a secondary market and government increases the issuance of PIBs at market determined rates, it can help create a benchmark yield curve. The lack of supply of PIBs in the market results into an artificial increase in their prices which should be avoided and the government should ensure the regular issues of PIBs even if it does not require the funds. This is because the fact that the regular issues would stop the increase in the prices of PIBs just because their unavailability and their prices would reflect their actual market worth and the state of the Pakistan’s economy and PIBs would serve as the justified and credible benchmark long term yield curve. The economic managers of the country state that the less issuance of the PIBs in last two years is due to high inflows in NSS. The government should understand that it will have to issue PIBs regularly even if it is running in surpluses. It is the same as the government raised $500 million from Euro bonds when it did not require the funds but issued the bonds just to show the presence in the international market . The similar approach should be adopted in the domestic market. 6.2 Increased Size of the Bond Market A big hurdle in the creation of a secondary market in Pakistan has been the limited size of the issuance. The policymakers should focus on the fact that larger the size of the outstanding bond market, the larger is the turnover and the liquidity. Since the outstanding size of MTBs and PIBs is just $ 23 billion in Pakistan which is quite small. In order to create the size of the market, the government can opt for issuing the bonds for some specific maturity, mainly the long term maturity. The major chunk of the outstanding domestic debt is in the form of MTBs which are short term 6 or 12 months securities. The preference should be given to PIBs with 10 years maturity. This increased focus by government on PIBs would enhance its market size and there would be more turnover and trading in this long term government security that would give it a market based price and interest rate which would further become a justified and credible benchmark for the corporate bonds. 6.3 Stopping Institutional Investors from NSS The government of Pakistan barred the institutional investors to invest in NSS in 2001 but it has allowed the institutions to invest in NSS. This would damage the market for TFCs since the institutions would invest largely in NSS. The government should also lower the interest rates on NSS as they serve as the benchmark for the long term corporate funds and since the current rates are high on them so they make the rates on corporate bonds higher. Since the NSS certificates are usually not held to maturity so actual cost of debt is even lower so this further distorts the rates on corporate bonds. 6.4 TFCs as the part of SRL The SBP should accept the TFCs of blue chip companies as the part of SLR, statutory liquidity requirement. This would not be a big deviation from the current policies as SBP accepts the NIT units as the part of the SLR which is similar in nature to a TFC and NIT certificates are not rated by any rating agency but a company that issues TFCs is a rated company so SBP should reconsider its policy towards TFCs. This would increase the marketability of TFCs and Banks and other Non Banking Financial Institution would be more interested in buying TFCs for Repos purpose. 6.5 Diversifying Investor Base Currently the majority of bondholders are financial institutions i.e. banks. Retail investors and foreign investors have much smaller participation in the bond market. This small investor base gives rise to a one-way market. A sort of cartel has developed and only a few buyers are able to dictate the terms. The government could increase the customer bade by targeting the retail customers. For this purpose, the government can use the channel it uses to sell prize bonds to local investors. Since the government has infrastructure available for selling the prize bonds so there would be less costs related to this new approach. This more diverse set of market players will be beneficial in eliminating the uniform direction and will provide greater stability to the market. 6.6 Investor Awareness The government should announce the calendar for the auctions of the bonds and this should be communicated to the potential investors. The aim of announcing should be that people should know ahead of time and it should be seen as continuity, predictability, and transparency in issuing bonds. The prices and rates should be given immediately in the local newspaper as well as on the website of SECP SBP. 6.7 Availability of Professionals as mentioned above, the mechanism of bond market is highly complex and integrated so pricing and other related activities is very challenging and requires exceptional professional skills which are scarce in Pakistan, even in many institutions. Most of the investors, both retail and institutional, fail to gauge the sentiment of the market and opt for the buy hold strategy. State Bank and SECP should conduct regular investor awareness seminars of international standards. SECP SBP should offer the training programs to professionals to make them equipped with the skills needed to work in bond market. The SBP, SECP, Leading Banks, Brokerage Houses and other financial Institutions should work closely with the top business schools of the country (NIMS, IBA, and LUMS) to equip the students of finance accounting with the skills which are needed by a professional to work in a bond market. 6.8 Risk Management/ Hedging Instruments Hedging instruments are essential to mitigate the risk associated with the bonds and enhance the investor confidence and thus create an efficient and liquid bond market. Government should encourage the institutions to come up with interest rate futures and bond futures and these futures should be allowed to be traded on the stock exchanges in order to provide them liquidity. 6.9 Administrative Reforms The government should ease the issuance procedure of TFCs at SECP and remove the administrative hurdles. So, the companies would be more motivated to issue TFCs. The government should revise the stamp duty on TFCs. SECP should be proactive in its approach. With the passage of development, there would be new kinds of debt securities in the Pakistani market; the SECP should be ready to formulate policies for such securities. 6.10 Stopping the Municipal Bonds The government should only issue bonds at the federal level and no provincial and municipal government’s should be allowed to issue bonds as they don’t have an income of their own and are dependent on the federal and the provincial government for the allocation of the resources. Generally the municipal administrations are in deficit coupled with corruption and mismanagement of resources has lead to the malfunctioning of the municipal government. The issuance of the municipal bonds would only lead to the default and putting the federal bonds credibility at stake. Conclusion Developing a well-functioning, deep and liquid bond market is not an easy task. The scenario in Pakistan is much more conducive today for the development of an efficient strong bond market than a decade ago but still much is left to be done. Relevant institutions, both from government public sector, will have to be very well focused and work collectively for the bond market development in Pakistan. It may take a long time in turning today’s Pakistani bond market into an efficient one that comes at par with those of developed countries but if Pakistan makes the structural adjustments today, the affects would start to become visible in the recent future in the form of benefits sought. If we recall the words of Mr. Allan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Pakistan still does not have that â€Å"spare tire† of that economy that can hedge against any possible financial economic crisis in the future. Today we have to make a well directed and calculated e ffort to provide the country with this â€Å"spare tire† and a strong shield against any possible catastrophe. [1] 2nd SBP Conference, Call for Papers, Fixed Income Market Development in Emerging Market Economics. [2] Barbie Martin, 2001, â€Å"Government Debt as Insurance against Macroeconomic Risk†, Paper Abstract [3] Allon Greenspan, Former Federal Reserve Chairman, Speaking to a delegation of Financial Professionals Economists in Sundaresan University, Columbia, 2005 [4] Arif, M., 2006, â€Å"Developing Bond Market in Pakistan†, Research Paper Presented at SBP conference held at Karachi [5] Associated Press of Pakistan, Budget Statistics [6] Daily Times, Sunday, 20th May 2007 [7] FSCD Circular No. 1 of 2007, SBP [8] Luengnaruemitcha and Ong, 2005, â€Å"An Anatomy of Corporate Bond Markets: Growing Pains and Knowledge Gains†, Research Paper [9] Dr Ashfaq Hasan, Economic Business Review of Daily ‘DAWN’ on March 15, 2004 [10] McCauley Remolona, Their Statement about the minimum size of the Bond Market. [11] Pongpen Ruengvirayudh, â€Å"Fixed Income Market Development in Emerging Market Economies: Thailand† [12] Farhan Hameed, â€Å"Fostering Corporate Bond Market in Pakistan†, 2006, Research Paper presented at SBP conference [13] Ms. Uzma Khalil, â€Å"The Development of Debt Securities Market- Country Experience of Pakistan†, 2004, Research paper written for World Bank Seminar on Strengthening Bond Market in Pakistan. [14] Shabbir H. Kazmi, â€Å"A Growing Market for TFCs†, 2000. Research Papers on Fixed Income Securities Market in PakistanAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaTwilight of the UAWMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductDefinition of Export QuotasInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfOpen Architechture a white paperHip-Hop is Art

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Definition and Examples of Words in English

Definition and Examples of Words in English A word is a  speech sound or a combination of sounds, or its representation in writing, that symbolizes and communicates a meaning and may consist of a single morpheme or a combination of morphemes. The branch of linguistics that studies word structures is called morphology. The branch of linguistics that studies word meanings is called lexical semantics. Etymology ​From Old English, word Examples and Observations [A word is the] smallest unit of grammar that can stand alone as a complete utterance, separated by spaces in written language and potentially by pauses in speech.-David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2003A grammar . . . is divided into two major components, syntax and morphology. This division follows from the special status of the word as a basic linguistic unit, with syntax dealing with the combination of words to make sentences, and morphology with the form of words themselves. -R. Huddleston and G. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press, 2002We want words to do more than they can. We try to do with them what comes to very much like trying to mend a watch with a pickaxe or to paint a miniature with a mop; we expect them to help us to grip and dissect that which in ultimate essence is as ungrippable as shadow. Nevertheless there they are; we have got to live with them, and the wise course is to treat them as we do our neighbours, and make the best and not the worst of them.-Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler, 1912 Big WordsA Czech study . . . looked at how using big words (a classic strategy for impressing others) affects perceived intelligence. Counter-intuitvely, grandiose vocabulary diminished participants impressions of authors cerebral capacity. Put another way: simpler writing seems smarter.-Julie Beck, How to Look Smart. The Atlantic, September 2014The Power of WordsIt is obvious that the fundamental means which man possesses of extending his orders of abstractions indefinitely is conditioned, and consists in general in symbolism and, in particular, in speech. Words, considered as symbols for humans, provide us with endlessly flexible conditional semantic stimuli, which are just as real and effective for man as any other powerful stimulus.Virginia Woolf on WordsIt is words that are to blame. They are the wildest, freest, most irresponsible, most un-teachable of all things. Of course, you can catch them and sort them and place them in alphabetical order in dictionaries. But words do not live in dictionaries; they live in the mind. If you want proof of this, consider how often in moments of emotion when we most need words we find none. Yet there is the dictionary; there at our disposal are some half-a-million words all in alphabetical order. But can we use them? No, because words do not live in dictionaries, they live in the mind. Look once more at the dictionary. There beyond a doubt lie plays more splendid than Antony and Cleopatra; poems lovelier than the Ode to a Nightingale; novels beside which Pride and Prejudice or David Copperfield are the crude bunglings of amateurs. It is only a question of finding the right words and putting them in the right order. But we cannot do it because they do not live in dictionaries; they live in the mind. And how do they live in the mind? Variously and strangely, much as human beings live, ranging hither and thither, falling in love, and mating together.-Virginia Woolf, Craftsmanship. The Death of the Moth and Other Essays, 194 2 Word WordWord Word [1983: coined by US writer Paul Dickson]. A non-technical, tongue-in-cheek term for a word repeated in contrastive statements and questions: Are you talking about an American Indian or an Indian Indian?; It happens in Irish English as well as English English.-Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992

Thursday, November 21, 2019

AT&T Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

AT&T - Essay Example Then comes the Porter's five forces to see if it is favorable to invest in the telecom industry. The issues that need to be considered are stated after which the recommendations are given for the organization to take over. The AT&T Foundation invests globally in projects that are at the intersection of community needs and AT&T's business interests. Emphasis is placed on programs that serve the needs of people in communities where AT&T has a significant business presence, initiatives that use technology in innovative ways, and programs in which AT&T employees are actively involved as contributors or volunteers AT&T has a societal purpose. Public service and social responsibility are traditions deeply embedded at AT&T. The AT&T Foundation seeks to educate, enrich, engage, and empower the communities served by AT&T. Some of the priorities that the AT&T Foundation supports includes: The first divestiture was the result of AT&T and the Regional Bell Operating Companies. With this divestiture, AT&T lost its ability to reach almost every consumer in the US by its wires and bills, as they were no more providing local exchange services. With the incoming of fiber optic transmission and other technologies, the competition aroused in long distance telephone services. AT&T had to build up on these new technologies and reinvention was required. The lack of

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Research Methods in Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Methods in Criminal Justice - Essay Example In this case, it is used in clarifying the idea behind a concept. Conceptualization, in criminal justice, can be changed by setting clear standards that can be universally recognized in order to cut back on the wide disparity found in research. In addition, the issue of accuracy of research in criminal justice comes in under changes to research. This is concerning discerning the accuracy and measures of variables used in crime and justice (Gibbs, 1989) One of the possible issues likely to arise from the definition of conceptualization is the variation found in research findings. This is in terms of different conceptualization strategies used by different researchers. In criminal justice, conceptualization of crime is difficult in that there are numerous variables to consider thus creating the wide, or rather narrow disparity. This is dependent on the influence of different variables since the issue of crime happens to be very wide (Gibbs, 1989). Influence of certain aspects may be overlooked, as there are no set standards to conceptualization. It also creates issues in terms of how to measure certain phenomena related to crime and justice. This is due to the presence of multiple methods of measuring similar concepts of

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Victorian audience Essay Example for Free

Victorian audience Essay The concept of red herrings is to create a lead or breakthrough in a case for the detective. These have been cleverly devised into the hound of the Baskervilles as there is one clearly visible in London at the beginning. This is the suspecting of Barrymore, Sir Charles butler. The true criminal poses as Barrymore while in London leading Holmes and company to believe that Barrymore is the criminal. Barrymore is later proved to be not guilty. The effects red herrings have on the audience are devastating because it leaves the reader thinking the criminal is going to be harder to catch than the detectives think. We expect to read about a seemingly perfect crime in detective fiction because otherwise it wouldnt be as tension-building or suspense-filling. The seemingly perfect crime in along came a spider is the kidnap of two celebrity kids and the robbery of a million dollar ransom. In hound of the Baskervilles it would be the murder of Sir Henry and Sir Charles Baskerville and announcement that the criminal is an heir to the family fortune his father never received by using an old family curse. The detective genre is being challenged in this book by the gothic genre as the incorporation of a hellhound is less reminiscent of the detective genre. The description of the hell hound backs up a point that it is a more gothic idea as it says, Big, black beast. This refers to the gothic genre as black is heavily associated with the gothic genre and beasts are more reminiscent of darker genres such as the gothic genre. A mysterious atmosphere is essential in a detective novel because it adds tension and suspense. This is through the way it is portrayed as mysterious, very little known and secretive. Conan Doyle uses layer upon layer of description on the moor when Watson first sees it. A tinge of melancholy lay upon the countryside. This quotation evidences his use of description for the moor. He also uses powerful adjectives to describe certain features of the moor such as, Jagged and sinister hills. This quotation conjures a sense of coldness and makes the reader feel unwelcome to the sudden change of scenery. The seemingly perfect crime sees Stapleton as the villain through out the story. However no one suspects him but Holmes and this is revealed when Holmes is found by Watson. Conan Doyle presents Stapleton as a poor yet clever man in the hound of the Baskervilles. The usage of certain words provokes this idea: dressed in a grey suit and a straw hat. He compares, to other villains of the detective genre, very secretive and as unsusceptible as can be. This is shown by the way he hides his past life to everyone, but he only tells them he lost money with the school he had. Other villains would either make themselves known but be hard to catch, or secret but leading the detective towards them and finally slipping up somewhere along the line. It links to the implication of justice always prevailing because in the end the criminal is nearly always caught. The role of miss. Stapleton as an accomplice would have been quite normal to a Victorian audience. This is because women were considered the weaker gender and men bossed around women. Conan Doyle is linking these ideas on the role of women through the use of miss. Stapleton in the book. Miss. Stapleton, when found at the end, is shown to have been beaten if not carrying out orders by Stapleton and left alone if obeying Stapleton. Oh, this villain! See how he has treated me! she shot her arms out from her sleeves, and we saw with horror that they were all mottled with bruises. This is evidence that Stapleton beat his wife. Most detective fiction is expected to be formed around the idea of who dunnit? This is true in along came a spider as Alex Cross tries to find a villain after another villain. However in hound of the Baskervilles it isnt the case as Holmes and Watson are also saving Sir Henry from an untimely death. You would expect the idea of who dunnit? to be the centre theme around the story, creating tension and suspense fitting for it. This makes Holmes seem heroic, Holmes had emptied five barrels of his revolver into the creatures flank. I think the hound of the Baskervilles is very sensational novels within the detective genre because it is where Holmes and Watson meet a foe worthy of there steel. I think the mysterious atmosphere is particularly effective because it creates the tension and suspense it needs to create and it holds secrets, leaving the question in your mind, Whats it hiding? also I think the mysterious atmosphere is effective because of its unique base for the whole of the story. No literary figure has a stronger hold on the public imagination than Sherlock Holmes. This is shown in the essay.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Becoming a Teacher: My Philosophy on Education Essay examples -- Teac

Becoming a Teacher: My Philosophy on Education When did education start? Do we still need education to function as a society? How long will public education remain a kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum? The answers to these questions will vary from person to person, but they will all have one common theme: education will and must go on! Education is the key to a progressing society. Education is the only way that knowledge is passed from generation to generation. In this paper I will explain why I wish to teach, my educational goals, and the philosophy that I will use during my teaching career. Becoming a teacher in today’s society is not the most choice among our society. People tend to demean the profession of teaching in that it does not pay enough money. I have been told that I should not become a teacher for this reason and even considered not becoming a teacher because of the poor pay. Now, I would have to disagree with this precept. Teaching is probably one of the most underpaid careers that one could pick; but for me I believe that the personal satisfaction outweighs the pay. Teachers are not going to have the biggest houses or the most expensive cars, but truthfully I do not strive for those possessions. I believe that teaching requires great skill and professionalism. In order to teach someone, you must know the subject that you are teaching well. The field of education is not for everyone; it takes a special person that has a genuine love for children and can get students motivated to learn. My love for a subject, secondary mathematics, and my natural desire to help others are the reasons that I wish to become a teacher. From th... ...as a philosophy because I believe that a student should have to learn ideas that have lasted over centuries and use the ideas within the classroom. For example, a student should have to use the rules for derivatives in calculus because they have lasted over time. When I become a teacher I hope to incorporate all of these philosophies into my classroom. Teaching is not a profession that today’s society would call a rewarding profession because of the demands and poor salaries. I struggled with not making enough money for a little while, but have since put that behind me. I realize I can change some students’ lives. This is more rewarding than money and will make an impact on my students for years and years to come. I strive to be the best teacher that I can be so that my students will enjoy school and maybe, one day, want to become a teacher too.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Mod a Essay Hsc

Analyse how Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Room of One’s Own imaginatively portray individuals who challenge the established values of their time. Literature is an evaluation of the established values of their time, a manifestation of the composer’s perspectives regarding key issues that characterised their zeitgeist. This is evident in Virginia Woolf’s polemical essay, A Room of One’s Own (1929), in which she portrays male anxiety towards women during the post-WWI period.Similarly, Edward Albee’s 1962 satirical drama, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Afraid) projects an analogous fear of female dominance, although in post-WWII American society. In a further comparison, both composers focus on the importance of wealth in society, where Woolf considers the significance of material security with regards to fiction writing in English society in the 1920s, whilst Albee criticises materialistic values in relation to social conformity in American society in the 1960s.Since the late 19th century female suffrage movement that empowered women, men feared being displaced from their traditional positions of authority. Woolf conveys these established patriarchal values through A Room of One’s Own, in her examination of the phallocentric literary sphere of the 1920s, where anybody could write literature, â€Å"save they [were] not women†. The symbolic title highlights women’s need for material security as a pre-condition â€Å"to writ[ing] fiction†, arguing that historically, men have denied women opportunities for achieving economic equality.Woolf’s ironic use of simile reinforces her hypothesis that â€Å"if only Mrs Seton †¦ had learnt the great art of making money and had left their money, like their fathers †¦ to found fellowships†. This highlights the historical lack of educational and financial opportunities for women. Furthermore, Woolf blames patriarchal value s for institutionalising discriminatory practices in English society. At the fictional â€Å"Oxbridge†, a Beadle indicates that â€Å"this was the turf; there was the path†, symbolising the established gender exclusion in academia. Her thoughts interrupted, she expresses disappointment â€Å"as they had sent my little fish into hiding†.Through this metaphor, Woolf implies that men’s â€Å"protection of their turf† denied women opportunities for creativity, portraying an ingrained contextual fear of female intelligence that was perceived as encroaching upon male dominance in every sphere of endeavour. Albee’s contemporary political satire, Afraid, also portrays male and female rivalry, incorporating textual features such as intense drama and blunt stage directions to convey the fierce gender conflict of his time. Whilst both texts were composed in post-war periods, Albee’s drama savagely critiques the established societal values of sma ll town American society in the 1960s.This is evident when Martha criticises George as â€Å"a great†¦big†¦fat†¦FLOP! † unable to rise up the departmental ranks. The use of crude colloquial language and aggressive stage directions accentuates her frustration as she â€Å"spits the word at George’s back†, reflecting Martha’s authority over him, which symbolises women’s growing influence in mainstream American society in the 1960s. Furthermore, Martha recalls the â€Å"boxing match we had† in an attempt to humiliate him, an allegory for the gendered power struggle.George reacts negatively, and to regain superiority, he â€Å"takes †¦ a short-barrelled shotgun †¦ aims it at †¦ Martha †¦ [and] pulls the trigger†. Coupled with this stage direction, Albee’s use of exclamatory punctuation in George’s childish point-scoring of â€Å"Pow! You’re dead! † signifies his desperation to recover his masculinity. In this way, Albee portrays the constant quarrelling between George and Martha as a symbol of anxiety and dysfunctionality in America in the 1960s, depicting the national paranoia associated with the Cold War and nuclear warfare.Just as Woolf and Albee represent the gender conflict in post-war societies, they also criticise the wealth inequality and the greed of their time. Whilst Woolf reasons that discrimination against women often prevented them from writing fiction, she also considers that poor material conditions likewise limited their contribution to literature. Through the use of the modal verb to emphasise the importance of financial security, she expresses her contention regarding material needs that â€Å"a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction†.The anecdote of the tailless cat is symbolic of the distractions that interrupted women in their writing, thus Woolf highlights the need for the privacy of a room of one’s own in order to â€Å"think of things in themselves†. Furthermore, she decides that â€Å"500 pounds a year for ever †¦ seemed infinitely more important† than the suffrage movement as it was more conducive to her writing fiction. No longer working â€Å"like a slave†, Woolf’s simile highlights that â€Å"food, house, and clothing are forever mine†, reflecting the value of financial security in English society in the 1920s.Thus, Woolf sustains her thesis and highlights the importance of money and privacy, conveying the established attitude that a secure income ensured creative and intellectual freedom in English society. Alternatively, Albee’s political allegory reflects his criticism of the materialistic mores of American society in the 1960s, portraying human shallowness in a dramatic appraisal of the American Dream, an idea which has resonated within society since the founding of America.It epitomises a conservative nati onal ethos that entailed the possibility of universal prosperity and the pursuit of happiness for all, thus many individuals sought to increase their wealth and social status. This materialistic idea is conveyed through Nick, who crudely boasts, â€Å"my wife’s got some money†. In characterising Nick as the typical shallow ‘jock’, Albee undermines this concept of the ‘self-made man’, dramatising a soulless aspect of the American Dream. Additionally, Martha criticises George’s salary, mirroring the contextual attitudes of middle-class America, when status was associated with high income levels.She sneers at George, advising him not â€Å"to waste good liquor†¦not on your salary†. Here, Martha’s mocking tone captures her disappointment as she â€Å"hope[s] that was an empty bottle†. However, the â€Å"empty bottle† also symbolises her despair as George is only â€Å"on an Associate Professor’s sala ry†. This brings to mind the social importance of income but unlike in Woolf’s society, where women’s economic security may liberate creativity, here economic success serves as a status symbol within the American Dream.Thus, literature, with its distinct forms and features, is influenced by varying contexts, portraying similar concerns that enhance our understanding of the established values of the time. Woolf’s polemic, A Room of One’s Own (1929), may differ textually and contextually from Albee's Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1962), which portrays a savage attack on American values, but both texts reflect male fear of women due to their growing influence in post war societies. Furthermore, they focus on the importance of wealth with regard to literary creativity in English society in the 1920s and the realisation of the American Dream during the 1960s.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Organizational Communications Strategy Essay

Leaders are responsible for motivating people to do their work effectively and achieve common objectives. Some believe leaders are born but some of the qualities can also be embedded in leaders through training and learning. Communication is the process when one person conveys thoughts or feelings to another individual or collection of people. The effectiveness of the communication process can be measured by message intended is equal to the message extracted. Feedback is essential for the communication process as this provides a response to on how successful we have been in transferring our message as originally intended. Teams focus on a collective style of working where the team members work together to achieve common goals. In teams the synergy level is positive, that is the performance of the team is greater than the individual efforts. The self managed teams discussed in this case are linked with empowerment, empowering employees enables them to participate better in team decision making processes. Leaders should facilitate and gain the trust of these teams rather than try to control and dictate to them. This allows instant action to be taken against a problem leading to valuable solutions. Communication is the back bone of an organization; it is one of the most important aspects required for the survival and success of the organization, whether the objective is dealing with corporate clients, employees or general public. The aim of the massage is to get across the Messages clearly, convincingly and to the relevant targeted audiences, Content that is delivered should be conveyed using the most effective and efficient channels, and a important aspect which is to be kept in mind is that Communications are customized to reflect cultural, and local diversity so it should be utilized accordingly for the betterment of the organization. Every thing done in the organization is through communication so it is a very significant element of any organization. The company I have chosen of the fortune 500 is FedEx the communication strategy is accordingly to the current trends in the business, I will emphasize on IT for the purpose of communication whether it be with in the organization or out side to customers, the internet will be used in fact for this purpose, as it is the most efficient and effective communication medium of present era. IT internal use it is a blessing as at present organization are moving toward paper less offices and e-mails are the best way to correspond and to Provide timely responses to all questions and feedback received. For external use website is a best source to attract new and maintain present customer as a large population of the world uses the WWW, for socializing, checking e-mails, browsing etc. using this medium will help FedEx in Developing focused, targeted communications at the right time to the correct audience, Communicate concise, pertinent, interesting content with a positive tone to cater the market. Website will be used for the purpose of providing a repository of business wide communications and questions and answers that is easily accessible to all FedEx concern employees. Another vital source I would use for my communication strategy will be the mobile phone, it has been growing rapidly at present and the cell phone has become one of the most vital means to convey messages, as the general public who use cell phones are addicted to it. We could target our customer by mobile massages which are used at present companies to attract customer, further the merge of the mobile and the internet has had a positive impact on the industry. Further, we could use other means of promoting their Internet marketing efforts offline like newsletters, direct mails, etc in order to reach more people nationally and internationally. The same tools can be used to promote not only the website but the company as a whole at the same time based on data gathered about customers online. Conduct online promotion using banner ads, e-newsletters, e-zines, etc. Since internet marketing is a new concept, those people who do go online may not be aware of exactly which companies have websites now. Therefore it would be a really effective idea right now to start placing banner ads on websites, there should be an overall increase in awareness of the use of Websites to interact with their customers online. I believe that the postal system is not very reliable but the usage of online advertisement can increase the interactivity and understanding of consumers and become more personalized. The World Wide Web has got billions of users with a great deal of attention from press and industry analysts. It’s got big names like Amazon and Yahoo which makes it sound even more intimidating to small businesses to use the Internet as a big part of their marketing solution. Like traditional advertising, Web marketing does not need a catchy slogan or striking images or animations. To get started, all one needs to do is state just the facts: who you are, what you sell, where you’re located, and other basic information. It does not cost a lot to fix mistakes, add new information or make other changes. That’s one source of anxiety absent in Web marketing. The same free tools used to develop web pages can be used to fix them, add to them or expand them. Today’s consumers rarely wait until they enter a store before they begin to develop a decision to purchase one brand over another. For most businesses this is one of the greatest opportunities of the Internet. By responding to the consumers’ need for information and providing them with the information they are looking for earlier in the sales cycle, a business of any size can develop the kind of branded relationship that at one time only corporations with large ad budgets could afford. To get maximum benefit one can blend conventional advertising with online advertising to further energize and empower the overall campaign and make it interactive. What is needed is creativity and imaginative thinking. There is no particular, sure-fire way of doing it right and there is hardly a code of conduct. That gives internet-advertising a lot of breathing space but also leaves no excuses for not being innovative. As I have mentioned above if we conduct a cost and benefit analysis it would portray more benefit than the cost, the major target market of this media are the corporate clients as they make up most of the market in using FedEx services, with this innovative medium we will attract new customer for our product as well, the stake holder are the employee, loyal customer, the management of FedEx etc. In order to cater cultural nuances of people from all over the world we will have website customized to match the particular countries culture, and we will endeavor to cater the worldwide culture accordingly for instance Take nudity, Many Mildest cultures are reluctant to displaying women’s skin, while Europeans are far more tolerant of public nudity than Americans, these cultural difference will be catered for the effectiveness of the organizational communications strategy. Culture is a very difficult term to define. However, certain people have gone on and defined culture well by saying that it is a ‘set of shared values, opinions and practices of a community or group of people. ’ (Definition of Culture) The importance of the understanding of a socio-cultural environment of any country is imperative to attaining business advantage and eventually translatable success. This understanding of socio-cultural environment is then translated effectively into business practices so that they appeal to the local crowd and create a positive image of the firm in their minds. (Cultural Barriers) In my opinion this organizational communications strategy will do wonders for the organization, I hope this strategy will be implemented for the betterment of the organization.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on Sexism In The Classroom

Sexism in the Classroom In â€Å"Failing at Fairness† one of the most important topics of sexism is addressed, and that of course is sexism in the schools. From the beginning of public education there is evidence of hidden sexism in the classroom, yet not until recently have researchers began to take a closer look at the dilemma at hand. Sexism in the classroom is not a problem that has just occurred overnight in schools. I believe that it has a history, staring long before I was born. I love to listen to the stories that my Grandparents share with me, as do many children my age. They always tell me how great those â€Å"good old days† were. Yet the stories make me step back and look at my grandparents, and see that those â€Å"good old days† are very different from today. Back then, the male role was heads of the household and they were responsible for any of the â€Å"physical work† to be done around the house. On the other hand, women had much less say in what was going on in the house, community, and even the nation. For the most part, women stayed home to take care of the kids and do all the housework that needed to be done. This has been the way of life for along time right up until the Second World War. Then slowly women began to work their way into the work force, leaving those elementary ideas behind. Through the years women have gained more and more rights focus on equality, but are they really equal? To some extent yes, and by law yes, but there are still those hidden views and ideas that are continually being pushed on society. I have always witnessed sexism in the classroom, even though I have attended catholic school all my life. I believe that it is more harmful if it is not that obvious. For instance, if sexism is taking place in a kindergarten class, and no one is there to correct it from the beginning, girls will feel like they are inferior to the boys and therefore hold back in participation. I ... Free Essays on Sexism In The Classroom Free Essays on Sexism In The Classroom Sexism in the Classroom In â€Å"Failing at Fairness† one of the most important topics of sexism is addressed, and that of course is sexism in the schools. From the beginning of public education there is evidence of hidden sexism in the classroom, yet not until recently have researchers began to take a closer look at the dilemma at hand. Sexism in the classroom is not a problem that has just occurred overnight in schools. I believe that it has a history, staring long before I was born. I love to listen to the stories that my Grandparents share with me, as do many children my age. They always tell me how great those â€Å"good old days† were. Yet the stories make me step back and look at my grandparents, and see that those â€Å"good old days† are very different from today. Back then, the male role was heads of the household and they were responsible for any of the â€Å"physical work† to be done around the house. On the other hand, women had much less say in what was going on in the house, community, and even the nation. For the most part, women stayed home to take care of the kids and do all the housework that needed to be done. This has been the way of life for along time right up until the Second World War. Then slowly women began to work their way into the work force, leaving those elementary ideas behind. Through the years women have gained more and more rights focus on equality, but are they really equal? To some extent yes, and by law yes, but there are still those hidden views and ideas that are continually being pushed on society. I have always witnessed sexism in the classroom, even though I have attended catholic school all my life. I believe that it is more harmful if it is not that obvious. For instance, if sexism is taking place in a kindergarten class, and no one is there to correct it from the beginning, girls will feel like they are inferior to the boys and therefore hold back in participation. I ... Free Essays on Sexism In The Classroom Sexism in the Classroom In their article "Sexism in the Classroom", Myra and David Sadker argue that sexism exists in the classroom and that boys are treated better than girls. The authors, Myra and David Sadker, talk about the research they did and what they observed over a three year period. They found that boys have a better opportunity of learning because they got more attention from the teacher and they observed that boys were often called on more than girls in the classroom. Their research also showed that the teacher gave boys more positive comments. Before I read this article I honestly never thought about sexism in the classroom. I believed boys and girls were given the same amount of attention in school. If I had thought there was sexism in the classroom, I would have guessed that girls were being favored over boys. In all of my classes in high school and in college I believe that females and males have been treated equally. This past week I observed my Spanish class to see if sexism exists in my classroom. The ratio of girls to boys in this class is 12 to 7. I observed that girls were called on more often than boys. Also, the teacher gave girls more positive comments than they gave to the boys. For example she told a few girls that they had worked well in their group and did a good job on the assignment But, most of the time she went around the whole class to get everyone to participate. I think that the teacher did a good job of trying to involve everyone in the lessons we were doing. There were more girls in my Spanish class and always more girls who raised their hands than boys. When we were put into groups, it seemed to me that girls contributed more to the group than the boys did. I also noticed this week that when we came into the classroom and sat down, it was mainly girls in the front of the classroom and mainly more boys towards the back of the classroom. It has been said that teachers often favor one side of ...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

How to Add Resource Files in Delphi Executables

How to Add Resource Files in Delphi Executables Games and other types of applications which use multimedia files like sounds and animations must either distribute the extra multimedia files along with the application or embed the files within the executable. Rather than distribute separate files for your applications use, you can add the raw data to your application as a resource. You can then retrieve the data from your application when it is needed. This technique is generally more desirable because it can keep others from manipulating those add-in files. This article will show you how to embed (and use) sound files, video clips, animations and more generally any kind of binary files in a Delphi executable. For the most general purpose, youll see how to put an MP3 file inside a Delphi exe. Resource Files (.RES) In the Resource Files Made Easy article you were presented with several examples of the use of bitmaps, icons, and cursors from resources. As stated in that article we can use the Image Editor to create and edit resources that consist of such types of files. Now, when we are interested in storing various types of (binary) files inside a Delphi executable well have to deal with resource script files (.rc), the Borland Resource Compiler tool and other. Including several binary files in your executable consists of 5 steps: Create and/or collect all the files you wish to put in an exe.Create a resource script file (.rc) that describes those resources used by your application,Compile the resource script file (.rc) file to create a resource file (.res),Link the compiled resource file into the application’s executable file,Use individual resource element. The first step should be simple, simply decide what types of files you would like to store in your executable. For example, we will store two .wav songs, one .ani animations and one .mp3 song. Before we move on, here are a few important statements concerning limitations when working with resources: Loading and unloading resources is not a time-consuming operation. Resources are part of the applications executable file and are loaded at the same time the application runs.All the (free) memory can be used when loading/unloading resources. In other words, there are no limits on the number of resources loaded at the same time.Of course, resource files do double the size of an executable. If you want smaller executables, consider placing resources and parts of your project in a dynamic link library (DLL) or its more specialized variation. Lets now see how to create a file that describes resources. Creating a Resource Script File (.RC) A resource script file is a just a simple text file with the extension .rc that lists resources. The script file is in this format: ResName1 ResTYPE1 ResFileName1ResName2 ResTYPE2 ResFileName2...ResNameX ResTYPEX ResFileNameX... RexName specifies either a unique name or an integer value (ID) that identifies the resource. ResType describes the type of resource and the ResFileName is the full path and file name to the individual resource file. To create a new resource script file, simply do the following: Create a new text file in your projects directory.Rename it to AboutDelphi.rc. In the AboutDelphi.rc file, have the following lines: Clock WAVE c:\mysounds\projects\clock.wavMailBeep WAVE c:\windows\media\newmail.wavCool AVI cool.aviIntro RCDATA introsong.mp3 The script file simply defines resources. Following the given format the AboutDelphi.rc script lists two .wav files, one .avi animation, and one .mp3 song. All statements in a .rc file associate an identifying name, type and file name for a given resource. There are about a dozen predefined resource types. These include icons, bitmaps, cursors, animations, songs, etc. The RCDATA defines generic data resources. RCDATA let you include a raw data resource for an application. Raw data resources permit the inclusion of binary data directly in the executable file. For example, the RCDATA statement above names the application’s binary resource Intro and specifies the file introsong.mp3, which contains the song for that MP3 file. Note: make sure you have all the resources you list in your .rc file available. If the files are inside your projects directory you dont have to include the full file name. In my .rc file .wav songs are located *somewhere* on the disk and both the animation and MP3 song are located in the projects directory. Creating a Resource File (.RES) To use the resources defined in the resource script file, we must compile it to a .res file with the Borlands Resource Compiler. The resource compiler creates a new file based on the contents of the resource script file. This file usually has an .res extension. The Delphi linker will later reformat the .res file into a resource object file and then link it to the executable file of an application. The Borlands Resource Compiler command line tool is located in the Delphi Bin directory. The name is BRCC32.exe. Simply go to the command prompt and type brcc32 then press Enter. Since the Delphi\Bin directory is in your Path the Brcc32 compiler is invoked and displays the usage help (since it was called with no parameters). To compile the AboutDelphi.rc file to a .res file execute this command at the command prompt (in the projects directory): BRCC32 AboutDelphi.RC By default, when compiling resources, BRCC32 names the compiled resource (.RES) file with the base name of the .RC file and places it in the same directory as the .RC file. You can name the resource file anything you want, as long as it has the extension .RES and the filename without the extension is not the same as any unit or project filename. This is important because, by default, each Delphi project that compiles into an application has a resource file with the same name as the project file, but with the extension .RES. Its best to save the file to the same directory as your project file. Including (Linking/Embedding) Resources to Executables After the .RES file is linked to the executable file, the application can load its resources at run time as needed. To actually use the resource, youll have to make a few Windows API calls. In order to follow the article, youll need a new Delphi project with a blank form (the default new project). Of course add the {$R AboutDelphi.RES} directive to the main forms unit. Its finally time to see how to use resources in a Delphi application. As mentioned above, in order to use resources stored inside an exe file we have to deal with API. However, several methods can be found in the Delphi help files that are resource enabled. For example, take a look at the LoadFromResourceName method of a TBitmap object. This method extracts the specified bitmap resource and assigns it TBitmap object. This is *exactly* what LoadBitmap API call does. As always Delphi has improved an API function call to suit your needs better. Now, add the TMediaPlayer component to a form (name: MediaPlayer1) and add a TButton (Button2). Let the OnClick event look like: One minor *problem* is that the application creates an MP3 song on a user machine. You could add a code that deletes that file before the application is terminated. Extracting *. Of course, every other type of a binary file can be stored as a RCDATA type. The TRsourceStream is designed specially to help us extract such file from an executable. The possibilities are endless: HTML in an exe, EXE in exe, empty database in an exe, and so and so forth.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Assignment 10 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

10 - Assignment Example ifferences in employees needs and preferences, for instance many of the employees who are much younger and do not have dependent children and spouses always tend not to believe in life insurance. In many case scenario married couples who have dependable children and spouses at the same time always enjoys most of the benefits plan, as the company is a aware of the demanding situation to provide and be comfortable at the same time. Un-married persons living together are not recognized in such and do not enjoy the benefits enjoyed by married couples. Employees with higher standards of education also tend to enjoy most of the benefits plans in many organizations as compared to those employees with low level of education. In order to effectively come with a proper plan succession planning needs to be focused from senior management positions starting at the top and going down. The plan needs to focus on developing large talent pools as compared to few individuals. It should also build on well-developed competencies and objective assessment process planning. As such there should be plans of the number of job-ready people to fill senior jobs when they become vacant, the total percentage of jobs filled by internal candidate and also the time it takes for an outside hire to get up to speed with his/her job task. Organizations should at all ties have job ready talents, plan ahead and in a timely manner. Have at all times successors developed and ready to assume their next level of

Friday, November 1, 2019

Speakers' experiences and my the experiences for accounting Essay

Speakers' experiences and my the experiences for accounting - Essay Example It also serves as a tool of the eventual decision making in the business setting. Proper accounting portrays the ultimate financial position of the business. The accounting field provides an interrelationship with other departments in any organization. It tends to unify all the fields in any organization. All departments must spend through the consumption of the business resources. Accounting provides the platform of unifying all the expenditure and comparing it with the revenues that the business enjoy. Every department or discipline has a mandate of ensuring proper utilization to minimize the expenditure and maximize the returns. The evaluation of such disciplines is a tremendous initiative in determining the financial position of different disciplines. Examples of disciplines that require the knowledge of accounting to run them include; the human resource, ICT, marketing, and other disciplines. The information obtained from various fields in a business culminates into the final re port that is portrayed in the books of accounts. Amber Herrmann Amber Herrmann is a former graduate of CFCUSM. She started her course in accounting and passed the first accounting course. She later took a business course in human resource management. She graduated as an accountant, but later switched to human resources. The human resource is involved in the recruitment of new employees, performance appraisal, promotion of the employees, and the laying off workers. It is a department that is mostly involved in the maintenance and protection of the employee welfare. Accounting Information used by the Discipline Though Amber is a human resource manager, knowledge of the accounting has propagated her to become the merited manager she is. She provides the insights about the application of the accounting knowledge in the HR department. The department is involved in the management of about 12000 employees. The welfare of these employees has to be protected. The accounting information provi des them with the general liability procedures that the department requires for merited performance. During the annual general meetings, the department must prepare the most credible financial records and present them to evaluate their performance. This involves the use of the departmental cash accounts, balance sheets, and cash flows. This is due to its predisposition in the spending tendencies in most companies. â€Å"HR department has been deemed as spenders. The proper application of the accounting techniques ensures for efficient spending† (Herrmann, 15:01-15:30). The HR is necessitated to provide the final budgeting at the end of every financial year. This involves both the returns and the investments or expenditure. The HR must use the accounting discipline to ensure that the budget is sufficient and not exaggerated. They do not base their eventual values on assumptions, but on the values portrayed in the records. The proper employment of the values is necessary in mak ing the approximation of the supplies to their departments. This may be used to cater for the general liabilities such as employee injuries, legal liabilities, performance appraisal, and payment of the employee salaries. Therefore, the knowledge of accounting is used to monitor the patterns of budgeting (Herrmann, 14:45-15:59). Most organizations believe that the HR is a department that is explicitly involved in costs, and not returns. Amber uses her accounting knowledge to ensure that the money stays in the firm. They try to minimize expenses of