Impact of english in the arab world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effect of english in the Bedouin world - Essay Example Essentially, there exists a consistent comprehension among people that the utilization of English in correspondence helps in improving economic wellbeing in various nations. Thus, the administrations have put forth attempts in improving English in the nations through various methods, for example, embracing exacting state control of the instructive frameworks (Ramaswami, Sarraf and Haydon 71). Concerning training in the Arab nations, English has been made an essential language in the instruction frameworks. The purpose behind creation the English language is a result of the inclination that English improves profession prospects the people communicating in different dialects might not have their insightful works distributed all through the world. Moreover, English may draw in light of a legitimate concern for other exceptionally regarded western nations, for example, the United States and the United Kingdom (Ramaswami, Sarraf and Haydon 86). Through English language, the Arab world has had the option to impart the instructive assets to the remainder of the world. This thusly has empowered the Arabic speakers into appreciating the usage of investigated materials of various forms and upgrading the simplicity in their training. The training in the Arab world has likewise had the option to formalize through the English language to a huge degree for example, permitting people fo r usage of the web and other advanced media fundamentally customized in English. People of various ages have indicated enthusiasm for contemplating the English language because of the rising needs around the world. Additionally, a few foundations have been built up to offer instruction on the English language, for example, the AMIDEAST. English language has credited to improved presentation of the customary media that chiefly utilize English language as the medium. For example, there is higher introduction of TV in urban locales consequently; the individuals are presented to progressively English in such

Conflicts In The Nile Basin History Essay

Clashes In The Nile Basin History Essay The Nile is the longest waterway on the planet, it is 6860 km long, it is provided by two extraordinary stream frameworks, the first one is the White Nile (in the Lake Plateau) which is encircled by Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, a Burundi; and the other one is the Blue Nile (in Eritrea and the Ethiopian good countries); while in the north there are Egypt and Sudan that get their water from the recently referenced sources. The Nile River had an incredible job in impacting the world forever on its banks, a great deal of human advancements and countries were made on them; The Nile Basin comprises of 10 countries which are: Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi with an absolute populace of 300 millions and it is relied upon to be multiplied in the following a quarter century, the bowl itself is 3,000,000 Km square that covers about 10% of the African landmass territory; There is no uncertainty that with the expanding of populace, the water prerequisite is additionally expanded notwithstanding the water that is required for horticulture and vitality creation. It is may likewise be imperative to realize that all the bowl countries are extremely poor perhaps the most unfortunate on the planet (aside from Kenya and Egypt) and that destitution builds paces of infection and starvation. As per the particulars of the understanding that was made in 1929 between Britain (the provincial intensity of Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, Egypt and Sudan have indisputably the option to utilize 100% of the Niles water, while in 1959 there was another among Sudan and Egypt. Since 1992 a great deal of endeavors were applied to push the bowl countries towards advancement and collaboration, lastly in 1999 there was the foundation of the NBI (Nile Basin Initiative), it was created by the World Bank, Canadian International Development Agency and the United Nations Development Program, it was built up to diminish the strain between those countries and to assist them with developing and addition territorial dependability by controlling and arranging the water assets all together. Any administration of any stream bowl on the planet is mind boggling, while the Nile Basin might be viewed as the most perplexing one as a result of its history of neediness, penances, wars and instability, and then again, the quick and non-stoppable populace development on its banks that without a doubt builds water and vitality necessities, and that is the reason the NBI must have an incredible job in dealing with every one of those difficulties and guarantee the participation between all the countries. As of late the contentions turned out to be considerably increasingly forceful between the Nile bowl countries when 4 Nile countries which are Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Uganda have together consented to an arrangement that permits them to utilize more measures of Nile waters being developed activities and water system, in the mean time Egypt and Sudan didnt concur and they persuaded Burundi, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya of not consenting to on that arrangement. Conversation: The Challenge: The Nile Basin comprises of 10 countries which are: Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi with a complete populace of 300 millions and it is relied upon to be multiplied in the following a quarter century, the bowl itself is 3,000,000 Km square that covers about 10% of the African landmass region; There is no uncertainty that with the expanding of populace, the water prerequisite is additionally expanded notwithstanding the water that is required for farming and vitality creation. The River Nile is 6672 km long and it is the second longest waterway in the entire world, and it is provided by 2 primary sources, the first originates from Lake Victoria and structures the White Nile that goes through Uganda and finishes in Sudan while the subsequent source is in the Ethiopian good countries and structures the Blue Nile that meets the White Nile at Khartoum then it proceeds with northward to go through Egypt and closures into the Mediterranean Sea. The River Nile for Egypt is everything; People in Egypt has consistently been associated with the Nile from the day of their introduction to the world till the snapshot of their passing; Historically, in the fifth century B.C. Herodotus portrayed Egypt as the endowment of the Nile, and after Nasser fabricated the dam at Aswan, the association was fortified to an ever increasing extent, Egypt relies for the most part upon the River Nile as a water gracefully and with the fast increment in populace, the water requests become more. In 1929 an understanding was held among Britain and Egypt and another in1959 that was held among Egypt and Sudan, both have given the downstream countries their regular right of the Niles waters, development of dams was affirmed and the water was partitioned as follows: Egypt has forty eight billions cubic meters, Sudan has four billions, and thirty 2,000,000 will end into the Mediterranean Sea; presently that was worthy then in light of the fact that the remainder of the upstream nations were not created, and their populace was generally low, today those nations need to create and they have to grow new undertakings and build dams and that would be a high danger to the downstream countries as the downstream countries need to renegotiate about the old arrangement, then again, Egypt has wouldn't renegotiate and thinks about a lot of water a characteristic right and got readied for any military activity as Egypt is known as the most remarkable military force in Africa. Egypt gets 97.5% of the Niles water and Sudan gets 77%, in any case, it is essential to clarify that the water circulation between the Nile Nations is reasonable as a result of the accompanying: The 7 upstream countries are situated in moist territories they have precipitation normal range from 1250 to 1500mm every year, then again it is 500mm in Sudan and Eritrea while it isn't more than 15mm in Egypt every year. Egypts atmosphere is hyper dry with high temperature that will cause quick dissipation and will cause checked misfortunes of water assets in Egypt. The upstream countries get around 1500 billion cubic meters each year while then again Egypt gets just 85 cubic billion meters each year and that rises to 5-7% of the complete water assets. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) In 1999 the Nile Basin Initiative was set up and created by the World Bank, CIDA, and the UNDP, it was built up so as to diminish the contentions and the pressures between the Nile bowl countries and help them to coordinate and build up the water assets of the Nile. It was upheld by a great deal of contributors including Denmark, Canada, Germany, Japan, Finland, Italy, Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, Swede, the African Development Bank, GEF, FAO, the World Bank and UNDP. The NBI has expressed that they can make fruitful 100% improvement that will prompt more food and vitality creation, advancement of industry, improvement of transportation, and other local exercises improvement. The tasks of the NBI incorporate angling ventures, the executives of water, the executives of the floods, decrease of the contamination, lastly controlling the waterborne ailments. The executives of water assets is viewed as an intricate procedure in any stream bowl, and on the off chance that you understood that the Nile bowl has consistently been described by neediness, water shortage, colossal populace, and long history of wars and uncertainty then you will see how mind boggling and troublesome it very well may be. NBI realized that helpful advancement is the main route for the best outcomes and most extreme advantages to the entirety of the Niles bowl countries, the NBI gives the common vision and a base for agreeable turn of events, and its essential targets are: Building up the water assets of the Nile Basin in an impartial manner so as to guarantee: Security Flourishing Harmony Guarantee the ideal utilization of the Nile Basin water assets Guarantee joint activity and participation between all the Nile Basin countries Dispose of destitution and improve financial renaissance Changing the arrangement enthusiastically and the fantasy to a reality Struggle in the Nile Basin In Entebbe, Uganda, 14-2-2010, 4 upriver countries which are Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda have begun and consented to an arrangement that permits them to have greater administration of the Nile waters to utilize them being developed ventures and water system. That understanding was made while the exchanges with the downstream countries were halt; then again the response of the downstream countries was not sending any designations yet they have utilized discretion in persuading Burundi, Kenya, Eritrea, and Congo not to consent to on that arrangement. The 7 upstream countries currently consider the old arrangements out of line and request more water to be utilized for water system and improvement ventures. Egypt cleared that participation between the Nile Basin countries is the best way to accomplish most extreme advantages and that the upstream countries can utilize the water assets they as of now have (precipitation), in any case, the upstream countries are compromising that they would consent to another arrangement that will bar Sudan and Egypt and disseminate the Nile waters in another manner; that understanding is viewed as a capital punishment to all the Egyptians, and that was what caused Egypt to declare that it will make whichever move might be discovered important to make sure about its offer in the River Nile. Another significant truth to be referenced is that Israel is taking an interest in building dams in Uganda on the Nile waters and that expands the concerns and the strain of the Egyptians. It is matter of time for Sudan and Egypt to determine their response against that new understanding, and they need to make a genuine demonstration to ensure their privileges of the Niles water; each nation needs to pay everything to secure its national security. Arrangements and proposals: Bowl countries are relying upon one another, they are completely connected to the River Nile, if Nile countries have coordinated and overseen Nile waters all together, collaboration will be made among them and clashes between them will be settled, and provincial stabili

Headings For Comparisons in Essays

Headings For Comparisons in EssaysWhen you are studying or reading a great essay, one thing that is commonly written about is how to compare topics in an essay. It is a common mistake to write this in a way that you assume the reader will already be familiar with. As such, it is important to give them a heads up that you will be examining their understanding of the topic and making the comparison by yourself so they are no longer confused by your research.One of the most common questions asked by beginning college students and instructors alike is how to compare topics in an essay. It is always recommended to give them a heads up so they do not get confused by your research. With this in mind, let us examine the two different styles of headings for your essay to better understand this question. We will also give you the perfect method on how to incorporate them together for maximum effectiveness.The style of headings that beginning college students and instructors typically opt for a re those that are constructed around a particular topic. It is called the thesis statement. The advantages of using this style of heading is that it keeps your reader in mind, and they are bound to be able to follow your argument.An advantage to this style of heading is that you can change it whenever you wish, so it can always be relevant. For example, if you get tired of writing an essay on photography, and decide to switch the heading to the phrase 'the importance of photography' and then write the essay. It will be a lot easier for the reader to follow your argument, and when you switch subjects or begin a new essay you can simply begin a new heading and have it apply to the new topic.The second style ofheading is one that aims to form a grouping, in order to make the main points of your topic stand out. The advantage of using this heading style is that it does not use the subject of the text, which means it is easier to think of when you are writing your essay. The advantage of this style of heading is that it is more complex and can be very difficult to follow at times. This is why a lot of beginning students tend to shy away from it as they feel it is a complicated style of heading.However, there is one thing that you need to remember when comparing topics in an essay, and that is that the title should still make sense in relation to the main points of the essay. Most of the time the thesis statement is found in the main body of the essay. Using a heading that requires you to directly link your main points will result in your reader skipping the thesis statement altogether.The best way to figure out which heading is best for you when comparing topics in an essay is to find out which type of heading you are most comfortable with. Then find out which type of heading is most effective in giving your reader information that they need in order to make an educated decision when it comes to understanding your overall argument. With these two styles, you can ea sily write an essay that is both effective and enjoyable to read.Writing essays is easier than you think. You just need to know how to compare topics in an essay and use the right headings to make the job easy.

Market Stock And Bond Analysis Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 13 Words: 3919 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Capital Market is the market that facilitate buying and selling of securities such as stocks / shares and bonds or debentures. It is a place where business enterprises and governments raise their long term funds. The two major functions of capital market are liquidity and pricing securities. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Market Stock And Bond Analysis Example For Free" essay for you Create order Capital Market consists of EQUITY MARKETS or STOCK MARKET, which provide financing through the issuance of shares, and enable the subsequent trading thereof and DEBT MARKETS or BOND MARKET, which provide financing through the issuance of bonds, and enable the subsequent trading thereof. The main difference between the two markets is the amount of risk and the return involved with stock and shares. Equity or stock market is governed by high risk and return, while debt market is a bit secured than the equity market. There are two types of capital market i.e. Primary market and Secondary market. Primary market: It is that market in which shares, debentures and other securities are sold for the first time for collecting long-term capital. This market is concerned with new issues. Therefore, the primary market is also called NEW ISSUE MARKET. In this market, the flow of funds is from savers to borrowers (industries), hence, it helps directly in the capital formation of the country. The money collected from this market is generally used by the companies to modernize the plant, machinery and buildings, for extending business, and for setting up new business unit. Secondary Market: The secondary market is that market in which the buying and selling of the previously issued securities is done. The transactions of the secondary market are generally done through the medium of stock exchange. The chief purpose of the secondary market is to create liquidity in securities. Analysis A primary market follows a particular trend, i.e. bull market and bear market. In bull market an investors buy in order to increase capital gains in the future whereas in a bear market an investors anticipate losses thus they are obliged to sell. When the Gross Domestic product and stock prices GDP Price fluctuation is an important tendency of an open market. Secondary market is affected by the change in primary market trend. Analysis and performance of Stocks: Stock Shares or stock are basically the certificate of ownership of the company. These are the one which are traded in the market. There are two types of stock i.e. common stock and preferred stock. Both these stock represent a partial ownership interest in the firm. Preferred stock has certain priority over the common stock they are generally paid fixed dividends. When a company becomes bankrupt they have an advantage of getting paid. Preferred shares do not have nay maturity date thus, they have more interest rate risk than bonds. The stock market is basically the trading groundÂÂ  capital market investmentÂÂ  in the Companys stocks, Derivatives, and other securities. The trading in stock market is either done physically i.e. through the open outcry or through online transactions. An investor can invest i.e. buy or sell any stock as per his choice. Analysis and performance: The analysis of stock is done by considering the fundamental factors i.e. macroeconomics information, industry news and firms financial statements. Stocks are analysed through two different methods of analysis i.e. Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis. Fundamental Analysis: This analysis includes the economic, Industry and company analysis of the stock. Economic Analysis: It is generally noted that the stocks performance depends on the market influence that affects all stock indexes such as Dow Jones industrial average and SP 500 stock indexes. While analysing the stock prices the analyst must consider the economic conditions of the market or country. The investor should decide the time when he can invest in stock as per the economic conditions of the nation. The analyst must consider the systematic risk before investing in the stock as the prices of market are highly influenced by the economic conditions. It is important for an analyst to forecast the short tem as wel l as the long term economic conditions before making the investment decision. Short term forecast refers to four to five years ahead whereas long term investment refers to more than five years of the forecasting. The Indexes of Economic Indicators: The economic indicators are classified on the basis of cyclic timings i.e. leading, roughly coincident or lagging. The leading indicators are those time series of data that historically research their high points and low points in advance of total economic activity. Roughly coincident indicators reach their peaks at approximately same time as the economy and lagging indicators reached their turning point when economy has already turned in. To consider the economic factors we should also look into the GDP, disposal income, demographic factors and demand as these also affect the stock process. Industry Analysis: The stocks of different industries react differently to the market condition. Cyclic stocks are more likely to get rec overed than the defensive stock. Cyclic stocks are tied up closely with the economic condition. For Industry analysis one should use the competitive strategy analysis. The key characteristics in an Industry Analysis is done by analysing past sales and past earnings performance of the industry, permanence, attitude of government towards the industry, labour conditions, competitive conditions, Industry life cycle. These are the several factors used for industry analysis. There are quite a lot of external sources of information for industry analysis such as Federal government, Investment services which includes the data in respect to Standards and Poors; the value line, Forbes, trade publications, funk and Scott index. Company Analysis: For the analysis of the stock prices of a company, it is very important to do study about the company. One need to know the performance of the company from last few years, financial analysis of last few years performance, growth rates of the compa ny for last several years. The investor has to analyse the price to book ratio, return on assets and return on equity. The analysts tried to compute and analyse the financial health of the company by the above factors which will help in analysing the stock and value of the company. The analyst should also analyse and forecast the earnings of the company will helps in analysing the return of the stock. The regression and correlation analysis is also done in forecasting. To analyse the performance of the company trend analysis is used which utilizes regression analysis. Technical Analysis of Stock: Technical analysis looks for the recurring patterns of the stock prices and its movement so that the price of the stock can be analysed. The technical analysis is done through wide range of graphs. The graphs used for technical analysis are as under: Line graphs; Bar graphs; Candlestick graphs; Point and figure charts; Market profiles; Moving averages; Oscillators, such as relative strength indicators, stochastics, and moving average convergence and divergence indicators. Charts of Price Patterns: To analyse the stock movements, technicians rely on charts or graphs of price movements and on relative strength analysis. According to the technicians, the prices of stock follow a trend and the prices of the stock are analysed can be recognized by the same. The prices of stock generally depend on the forces of supply and demand which helps the technicians to predict the likely direction of future movements. The stock is analysed through its trendline, which shows the way in which the stock is moving. If demand is increasing more rapidly than supply and the stock shows successively higher low points, it is in an uptrend whereas lower highs indicate that supply is increasing more rapidly, and the stock is in a downtrend. An investor buys a stock when the stock follows an upward trend. Line chart: Line charts are the simplest form of chart. It consists of the line connecting series of points which indicate the prices of the shares. It can be drawn on linear as well as logarithm scale. Logarithm scales are used when the price use through wide ranges. Bar charts: This chart is used to present the economic data. This chart depicts the periodic low and high and closing prices of the stock or security. There is a vertical line which connects the periods high and low prices, with a cross mark indicating the price at the close of the period. This chart is useful in analysing the daily trading of a particular stock. Point and figure chart: This chart helps in depicting the increase and decrease in price of the stock. X represents the prices increase and the O represents the price decline. Xs and Os are never shown in the same column. As soon as there is a reversal in the price of the stock the analysts moves to the next column for a new entry. Candle Stick Chart: This chart shows a stocks open, close, high and low in a modified three dimensional format. Horizontal axis depicts the passage of time whereas vertical axis shows the stock price. The white candles in the chart depict stock advances, with black candle representing declines. The thick portion of an entry is called the real body and the vertical line represents the wick. Risk in the Stock Market The stock market keeps fluctuating. The price movements of the stock are random and it required lot of study and analysis to study the performance of the stock. They are quite vulnerable to the economic conditions, speculation, press release, rumors and mass panic. The stock market prices may be very volatile due to the occurrences of the fast market changing events. Analysis and performance of Bonds: Bond A bond is a debt capital market instrument issued by a borrower, who is then required to repay to the lender/investor the amount borrowed plus interest, over a specified period of time. Bonds are also known as fixed income instruments, or fixed interest instruments in the sterling markets. Usually bonds are considered to be those debt securities with terms to maturity of over one year. Debt issued with a maturity of less than one year is considered to be money market debt. There are many different types of bonds that can be issued. The most common bond is the conventional (or plain vanilla or bullet) bond. This is a bond paying regular (annual or semi-annual) interest at a fixed rate over a fixed period to maturity or redemption, with the return of principal (the par or nominal value of the bond) on the maturity date. All other bonds will be variations on this. A bond is therefore a financial contract, in effect an IOU from the person or body that has issued the bond. Unlike sha res or equity capital, bonds carry no ownership privileges. An investor who has purchased a bond and thereby lent money to an institution will have no voice in the affairs of that institution and no vote at the annual general meeting. The bond remains an interest-bearing obligation of the issuer until it is repaid, which is usually the maturity date of the bond. The issuer can be anyone from a private individual to a sovereign government. Bond investment is different from that of stock investment. Bond investment is investing in the debt instrument that is issued by a company or government. The bond investor is actually lending money to the company while in return is promised to be paid the full principal amount plus a fixed periodic payout. The yield on the bond is calculated by putting together the final principal and total payouts received. The yield is the effective interest rate for the tenure of the bond. Analysis and performance of bond: For the analysis of bonds several arithmetical methods are used. The concepts of simple and compound interest, time vale of money, future and present value of bonds or securities are used to analyze the bonds. Simple and compound interest The value of money what we invest or receive today is not the same as we get in future. The amount of money will be different as the amount invested will bear a rate of interest. Through the different rate of interests given on a particular security using the time value one can analyse the future of the money invested. Simple interest A loan that has one interest payment on maturity is accruing simple interest. On short-term instruments there is usually only the one interest payment on maturity, hence simple interest is received when the instrument expires. FV = PV(1 + r) (2.1) Where, FV is the terminal value or future value PV is the initial investment or present value r is the interest rate. Compound Interest A loan has different interest amount on maturity. The principle amount is compounded and the interest is applied on the compounded amount. FV = PV (1 + r)n where r is the periodic rate of interest (expressed as a decimal) n is the number of periods for which the sum is invested. Time value of Money: The concept of time value of money is applied to analyze the present and the future value of the bond or any other security. Present value can be calculated when the future value of the amount is given along with the rate of interest or vice versa. Bond Indices Bonds are always approaching in maturity, and because some are redeemed early, the set of bonds in a basket changes more frequently than the shares in an equity index. Considering a hypothetical international ten-year benchmark index, as a bond falls to less than say eight years maturity, it may be replaced by the current ten-year benchmark bond. This will have different risk characteristics to the bond it replaced and will trade differently in the market as a result. As the constituents of a bond index have to change more frequently, we may not always be comparing like-for-like when we consider historical index values. There is also the issue of bond coupon payments, which make up a significant proportion of a bonds overall return, and which must therefore be incorporated in the index valuation. Nevertheless bond indices are important for the same reason that equity indices are, and form the benchmark against which fund managers performance is measured. Price of Bond: Price of a bond is equal to the present value of its cash flows. A vanilla bonds cash flows are the interest payments or coupons that are paid during the life of the bond, together with the final redemption payment. It is possible to determine the cash flows with certainty only for conventional bonds of a fixed maturity. So for example, we do not know with certainty what the cash flow are for bonds that have embedded options and can be redeemed early. The coupon payments for conventional bonds are made annually, semi-annually or quarterly. Some bonds pay monthly interest. Therefore a conventional bond of fixed redemption date is made up of an annuity (its coupon payments) and the maturity payment. If the coupon is paid semi-annually, this means exactly half the coupon is paid as interest every six months. The interest rate that is used to discount a bonds cash flows (therefore called the discount rate) is the rate required by the bondholder. It is therefore known as the bonds yield. The yield on the bond will be determined by the market and is the price demanded by investors for buying it, which is why it is sometimes called the bonds return. The required yield for any bond will depend on a number of political and economic factors, including what yield is being earned by other bonds of the same class. Yield is always quoted as an annualised interest rate, so that for a semi annually paying bond exactly half of the annual rate is used to discount the cash flows. The fair price of a bond is the present value of all its cash flows. Therefore when pricing a bond we need to calculate the present value of all the coupon interest payments and the present value of the redemption payment, and sum these. In most markets bonds are generally traded on the basis of their prices but because of the complicated patterns of cash flows that different bonds can have, they are generally compared in terms of their yields. This means that a market-maker will usually qu ote a two-way price at which she will buy or sell a particular bond, but it is the yield at which the bond is trading that is important to the market-makers customer. This is because a bonds price does not actually tell us anything useful about what we are getting. Remember that in any market there will be a number of bonds with different issuers, coupons and terms to maturity. Even in a homogeneous market such as the gilt market, different gilts will trade according to their own specific characteristics. To compare bonds in the market therefore we need the yield on any bond and it is yields that we compare, not prices. A fund manager quoted a price at which she can buy a bond will be instantly aware of what yield that price represents, and whether this yield represents fair value. So it is the yield represented by the price that is the important figure for bond traders. For analysing the yield one need to calculate the current yield, simple yield to maturity, yield to maturity. Price/Yield Relationship Plain vanilla bonds the coupon is fixed, therefore it is the price of the bond that will need to fluctuate to reflect changes in market yields. It is useful sometimes to plot the relationship between yield and price for a bond. A typical price/yield profile is a convex curve. To reiterate, for a plain vanilla bond with a fixed coupon, the price is the only variable that can change to reflect changes in the market environment. When the coupon rate of a bond is equal to the market rate, the bond price will be par (100). If the required interest rate in the market moves above a bonds coupon rate at any point in time, the price of the bond will adjust downward in order for the bondholder to realise the additional return required. Similarly if the required yield moves below the coupon rate, the price will move up to equate the yield on the bond to the market rate. As a bond will redeem at par, the capital appreciation realised on maturity acts as compensation when the coupon rate is low er than the market yield. Yield-to-maturity yield curve The most commonly occurring yield curve is the yield to maturity yield curve. The curve itself is constructed by plotting the yield to maturity against the term to maturity for a group of bonds of the same class. Bonds used in constructing the curve will only rarely have an exact number of whole years to redemption; however it is often common to see yields plotted against whole years on the x-axis. This is because once a bond is designated the benchmark for that term, its yield is taken to be the representative yield. The yield to maturity yield curve is the most commonly observed curve simply because yield to maturity is the most frequent measure of return used. Since market rates will fluctuate over time, it will not be possible to achieve this (a feature known as reinvestment risk). Only zero-coupon bondholders avoid reinvestment risk as no coupon is paid during the life of a zero-coupon bond. The yield to maturity yield curve does not distinguish between different payment pa tterns that may result from bonds with different coupons, that is, the fact that low-coupon bonds pay a higher portion of their cash flows at a later date than high-coupon bonds of the same maturity. The curve also assumes an even cash flow pattern for all bonds. Therefore in this case cash flows are not discounted at the appropriate rate for the bonds in the group being used to construct the curve. To get around this bond analysts may sometimes construct a coupon yield curve, which plots yield to maturity against term to maturity for a group of bonds with the same coupon. This may be useful when a group of bonds contains some with very high coupons; high coupon bonds often trade cheap to the curve, that is they have higher yields, than corresponding bonds of same maturity but lower coupon. This is usually because of reinvestment risk and, in some markets (including the UK), for tax reasons. The coupon yield curve The coupon yield curve is a plot of the yield to maturity against term to maturity for a group of bonds with the same coupon. If we were to construct such a curve we would see that in general high-coupon bonds trade at a discount (have higher yields) relative to low-coupon bonds, because of reinvestment risk and for tax reasons. It is frequently the case that yields vary considerably with coupon for the same term to maturity, and with term to maturity for different coupons. Put another way, usually we observe different coupon curves not only at different levels but also with different shapes. Distortions arise in the yield to maturity curve if no allowance is made for coupon differences. For this reason bond analysts frequently draw a line of best fit through a plot of redemption yields, because the coupon effect in a group of bonds will produce a curve with humps and troughs. The figure below shows a hypothetical set of coupon yield curves, however since in any group of bonds it i s unusual to observe bonds with the same coupon along the entire term structure this type of curve is relatively rare. The par yield curve The par yield curve is not usually encountered in secondary market trading, however it is often constructed for use by corporate financiers and others in the new issues or primary market. The par yield curve plots yield to maturity against term to maturity for current bonds trading at par. The par yield is therefore equal to the coupon rate for bonds priced at par or near to par, as the yield to maturity for bonds priced exactly at par is equal to the coupon rate. Those involved in the primary market will use a par yield curve to determine the required coupon for a new bond that is to be issued at par. This is because investors prefer not to pay over par for a new-issue bond, so the bond requires a coupon that will result in a price at or slightly below par. The par yield curve can be derived directly from bond yields when bonds are trading at or near par. If bonds in the market are trading substantially away from par then the resulting curve will be distorted. It is then necessary to derive it by iteration from the spot yield curve. As we would observe at almost any time, it is rare to encounter bonds trading at par for any particular maturity. The market therefore uses actual non-par vanilla bond yield curves to derive zero-coupon yield curves and then constructs hypothetical par yields that would be observed were there any par bonds being traded. Risk in the Bond Market Capital market risk in the bond market arises due to interest rate changes. There is an inverse relationship existing between the interest rate and the price of the bond. Hence the bond prices are sensitive to the monetary policy of the country as well as economic changes. Summary

Lord Of Flies By William Golding - 1978 Words

Have you ever gone out into the wild camping with some friends or even your family? If you have chances are you felt like you and your companions were founding a new city or civilization of some sort. It probably was exciting and fun to go through and think about how you could survive for much longer than you had to in those elements. It probably also was really cool to just live in the wild and feel as if you were away from everyone else, as if you were surviving on your own. More than likely if you have ever had these types of thoughts you probably went back and did it time and time again. You might have even thought about running away and living off the land for fun, leaving everything you have and are protected by behind. If you’ve†¦show more content†¦Upon reading and analyzing the book it’s easy to see some very key factors that led to this madness; first Jack wanted more power than he was allotted causing him to become very jealous, second the boys didnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t have any respect for their true leader, and lastly they weren’t willing to work together and forgot who they were. The first thing that went terribly wrong in this story about young adventures is the fact that Jack was not elected the group leader and he got very jealous very fast. Upon realizing exactly who was still alive from the crash and what supplies they had the boys decided that they would elect a leader for their group. This is a very smart plan because in all societies around our world there is a leader of some kind. The two boys who were thought of when electing a leader were Ralph and Jack, both older boys with an act of leadership. When it was all said and done the boys elected Ralph their leader, the obvious choice, but this would result in problems. Unlike Ralph had he not been elected Jack is filled with harsh feelings, he really wanted to be the leader of the group and when he isn’t elected he takes it hard. Ralph, being the good leader he is, realizes this and put Jack in charge of the hunting committee, but this still has negative consequences. Jack may get put in charge of something, but it’s not enough for him; he wants ultimate power. Because Jack wants more power and because he is put in charge of the hunting committee he startsShow MoreRelatedLord Of The Flies By William Golding869 Words   |  4 PagesLord of the Flies Psychology Sometimes people wear fake personas like a cloak over their shoulders, used to hide what is really underneath. 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Essay on Developing and Maintaining Safe Schools - 1507 Words

Developing and Maintaining Safe Schools There is no greater challenge that exists today than creating safe schools. It is difficult for children to learn in an environment that is unsafe and when they feel at risk. It is hard to keep staff on task when they fear for their own safety. One out of twelve students who stay away from school do so because of fear. In an ideal world, you would like to prevent all school crime and ensure the safety of students and each staff member. There are so many things outside the control of the school administrator that such a task is almost impossible. To predict the potentially disruptive†¦show more content†¦It is about the art of the possible. It is about creativity. It requires only the ability to get started. It is not limited by special restraints or a set of guidelines. Each community has the opportunity to shape the type of schoo l climate it wants to create. The key questions we must ask are What is it we want to accomplish? and How do we want to make it happen? The safety of our children is crucial. It is so crucial that it is everyones problem: school leaders, parents, and the broader community. A needs assessment is simply a formative evaluation. It helps a school determine its needs regarding violence reduction and prevention. Asking several questions first might help a school develop a more effective long term strategy. There also needs to be set some measurable goals. Effective schools create a violence prevention and response plan and form a team that can ensure it is implemented. They use approaches and strategies based on research about what works. A sound violence prevention and response plan reflects the common and the unique needs of educators, students, families, and the greater community. 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Essay for Religion and Law in Contemporary Public Disclosure

Question: Write about theEssay for Religion and Law in Contemporary Public Disclosure. Answer: Australia is a multicultural society and it also embraces its diverse population and even propagates the same. Each individual is given the right to live in a free manner, as per the drawn rules, and included in this freedom is the freedom of religion. When it particularly comes to the minority communities, they have been granted different minority rights in order them to follow their culture and religion (Huxley, 2012). However, a public sphere debate with regards to the policies of the state, with a specific reference to the religious communities revolves around abortion and family planning (Bottoni, Cristofori and Ferrari, 2016). This discussion is focused upon this very issue and so the focus would be on the debates revolving around policies of the state, and how they clash/ interplay/ collide with the religious communities view point about family planning and abortion. Each religion is unique and it follows its each teachings and own beliefs. These beliefs can often clash up with the policies which have been drawn by the state, even when these policies make a strict attempt to avoid such conflict. This is not only true for Australia, but across the globe. For instance, lets take an example of Islam in Singapore. As a result of the long-standing Malay problem, as a result of which Malay Singaporeans were socially and economically backward, the government brought out urban and economic planning in its family policies and that of the culture as well. This was meant to upgrade the population, particularly its health and education. The authorities of the nation regard the shapeless multiculturalism and individualism as an aspect of western decadence and this is contrasted by the Confucian Asias moral superiority. Hence, the up-gradation was a self assumed responsibility of the state for intervening directly in the different areas like family life, repro duction, moral and religion. The strategy of the nation towards the Muslim population is put in a nutshell in the MUIS, i.e., the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, along with the related policies meant for improving upon the Muslim education, modernizing the Sharia laws and courts and not only improving but regulating the Muslim family life as well. But such regulations are what prove the concept of secularism is not upheld by the states. By interfering with the religion of the individuals, the state does not remain separated from it (Barbalet, Possamai and Turner, 2013). Taking an example of Israel, where a pro-natalist policy is maintained when it comes to reproductive care. In Israel, the state provides the health care and also the continuum through childbirth from family planning services. The majority of the reproductive care is funded through the Health Funds by the government. The reproductive care policy of the nation reflects the social, religious and cultural norms of Jews regarding fertility (Glenn, 2010). The Jewish culture is engrained in the personal desire for motherhood and parenthood, which is strengthened through the historical persecution of Jews in Diaspora and the genocide carried on against the people in Holocaust. And so, the pro-natalist approach of the nation is supported through the legislation which regulates the IVF, i.e., vitro fertilization, the use of semen when it comes to IVF fertilization, ova extraction, the allocation and donation of ova, and finally the surrogacy agreements. Even the right of an individual to procr eate is properly recognized through the ruling of the Supreme Court and a leading example of this is the case of Nachmani v Nachmani (50(4) PD 661 (Isr)). In this case, the court held that due to the present special circumstances where it was deemed that the right of a woman was superior to the right of the husband to be a father. However, this does not mean that the woman has a full autonomy over her reproductive status. So, the woman does not have the right to terminate pregnancy. The lack of interest with regards to prosecution shows the abortions limited scope in the nation. Apart from funding the authorized abortions, the provisions of family planning information are funded by the State, along with the subsidized contraceptives. So, the case of Israel shows the integration of religion, i.e., of Jews in the State policies, which again shows that there is a no separation between the state and religion, even when this has been done positively (Library of Congress, 2015). Taking an example of India, where the infringement of rights of the individuals, when it comes to abortion and family planning. The Hinduism religion has no bans over the birth control. The Mahabharata which is a key religious scripture of Hindus states that killing embryo is a sin. It also shows Dhritarashtra and Gandhari having 100 children. Another story shows King Yayati where the man is solicited by a fertile woman and does not give into her wishes and is deemed as embryo killer (Sharma, 2015). However, in India there is a policy of having two children which shows the interference of the state with religion (Abbamonte, 2017). If a person conceives third child, the state policy requires them to abort such child, but if such person is Hindu, it would be a sin under their religion. Thus, a question is raised on the validity of freedom of religion in the nation. The state does attempt to justify its stand. Even though fertility is deemed as an important concept, if more than such ch ildren are given birth too, which can be supported by the family, it has to be deemed as Ahimsa, which is a nonviolent rule of conduct (Stacey, 2016). And the population issues have made birth control and family planning, a major ethical issue for the nation. A debate over the church and state separation in US has at its heart, the abortion debate. The Rep, Daniel Lipinski responded to the Conference of Catholic Bishops in US urging for immigration reforms and stated that in his opinion, immigration was not as important an issue, in comparison to other matters. Some of these issues on which the church speaks quite authoritatively is the abortion issue where it deems to protect life. Lipinski deemed this as a prudential judgement informed through Catholic theology which was not something which the Catholics had to follow. He deemed that it was not wrong to exploit the public office when the same is enshrined by the faiths understanding. This was supported by the previous Rep, Dale Kildee, when it came to debates around Affordable Care Act, 2010 (Ross, 2013). The debate around abortion is not about the rights of the women but a debate on the relationship between the government and the religion (Cherif, 2015). The opponents of abortion are j ust open regarding their intent of trampling the church state boundaries (Ross, 2013). UK also has its fair share of religious mix. And it is deemed that religion is a strong and a powerful influence over the attitude and behaviours of the individuals. UK has a large population of Sikhs, where abortion is allowed in exceptional cases, particularly when a serious threat is caused to the health of the woman. When it comes to birth control, the Sikhs have no objection to it. When it comes to abortion in context of Buddhists, their reliance is one reincarnation and this can be seen in the views of abortion of the Buddhists. They also deem that abortion is an act of killing, as is the case with Jews, Hindus and Muslims. Abortion, in short, is deemed as wrong in nearly every religion (FPA, 2016). Abortion in Australia is allowed, particularly arising from family planning. However, due to the nation having a wide spread of different religions, again a conflict is raised as the abortion laws are state laws. Each state has its own policy, which is often deemed as interfering with the religion of a person. So, when the policies are drawn by the state regarding family planning, particularly when a restriction is placed over the number of children one can have, resulting in abortions, an ethical issue is raised, which gives rise to the conflict between the state and the religion, particularly as the concepts of right of religion and secularism are proved wrong. There are some states of the nation where abortion is deemed as legal and some, where it is deemed as a criminal offence. In the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes, the ones who identify themselves with a religion, 23% deemed abortion as wrong. So, even when 60% of the national population stated that abortion was acceptab le, the ones with religion in their mind deemed it as a wrong thing and these individuals initiate the state and religion clash debate (CRA, 2017). To summarize the discussion, there is a conflict between religion and the state policies when it comes to the policies associated with abortion and family planning. This is particularly because the religion deems abortion carried on with the purpose of restricted family planning of state as a wrong thing, in any situation. It is deemed as a sin. But when the viewpoint of the state is presented, where the population control is given as the key reason for undertaking such measures, it presents a question of whether the religion, in this aspect should be given supremacy, or should the right of religion, in this aspect, continued to be curbed. References Abbamonte, J. (2017) Indian State Proposes A Two-Child Limit for Government Employees. [Online] Population Research Institute. Available from: https://www.pop.org/indian-state-proposes-a-two-child-limit-for-government-employees/ [Accessed on: 10/10/11] Barbalet, J., Possamai, A., and Turner, B.S. (2013) Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology. London: Anthem Press. Bottoni, R., Cristofori, R., and Ferrari, S. (2016) Religious Rules, State Law, and Normative Pluralism - A Comparative Overview. Berlin: Springer. Cherif, F.M. (2015) Myths about Women's Rights: How, Where, and Why Rights Advance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CRA. (2017) Attitudes to Abortion and Approaches to Ethical Issues. [Online] CRA. Available from: https://cra.org.au/attitudes-to-abortion-and-approaches-to-ethical-issues/ [Accessed on: 10/10/11] FPA. (2016) Religion, contraception and abortion factsheet. [Online] FPA. Available from: https://www.fpa.org.uk/factsheets/religion-contraception-abortion [Accessed on: 10/10/11] Glenn, H.P. (2010) Legal Traditions of the World: Sustainable Diversity in Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Huxley, A. (2012) Religion, Law and Tradition: Comparative Studies in Religious Law. Oxon: Routledge. Library of Congress. (2015) Israel: Reproduction and Abortion: Law and Policy. [Online] Library of Congress. Available from: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/il-reproduction-and-abortion/israel.php [Accessed on: 10/10/11] Ross, R.D.S. (2013) Congress, Abortion, and the Separation of Church and State. [Online] Rewire. Available from: https://rewire.news/article/2013/09/23/congress-abortion-and-the-separation-of-church-and-state/ [Accessed on: 10/10/11] Sharma, M. (2015) Hindu Literature Mahabharata: Questions and Answers. Bloomington: Booktango. Stacey, D. (2016) What Do Religions Say About Birth Control and Family Planning?. [Online] Population Research Institute. Available from: https://www.verywell.com/what-are-religious-views-on-birth-control-906618 [Accessed on: 10/10/11]

Greek society Essay Example Essay Example

Greek society Essay Example Paper Greek society Essay Introduction In Greek society, slavery was view as being a normal part of everyday life. Slave labour was considered an essential need when it came to the economic and social success of the Greek city-states. There were a variety of roles, which were carried out by the slave class, some of these included agriculture, crafts, mining, and domestic work. This essay aims to explore the attitudes of the Greeks regarding slavery and its institutions, where and how slaves were acquired, the treatment of the slaves and possible implications if the practice of slavery had been abolished. Despite frequent misconception the majority of Greek slaves were in actual fact, not Greek at all. Many were prisoners of war, captured after the fall of besieged towns and cities and taken back to be later sold on the slave market. As Homer1 discusses in his poems piracy, kidnapping and warfare were all common sources of acquiring slaves. Slavery is the dreaded fate of the women of the royal household of Troy, after the fall of the once great city as is told by Euripides2 . [. ] Talthybios: You have now been allocated, if this is what you feared. Hekabe: Alas! For what city of Thessaly or Phthia or the land of Kadmos are we destined? [. ] (Dillon Garland 2005:351 11. 42) Although this is an extract from a play, Hekabe’s fear that she feels for the sealed fate of herself, her daughters and daughters-in-law was a very real part of life. As Thucydides3 also discusses, when the Athenians captured Melos, the men were killed and the women and children enslaved. There many other cities that the Athenians as well as other city-states obtained their slaves, some of theses are Thrace, Scythia, Illyria, Colchis, Caria and Lydia. Greek society Essay Body Paragraphs Kidnapping was also very common, although the families of the hostages were sometimes given the opportunities to pay a ransom for their release, many still ended up as slaves. Children born to enslaved parents were also considered as slaves, another method was exposure, unwanted, sick, or weak babies to be abandoned by their parents. The practice, though inhumane by contemporary opinion, was considered normal. Those children who were found by slave traders or shepherds were possibly taken, raised, trained in some skill and later sold for profit. Although, debt slavery had been abolished in the Attica by Solon’s4 legislation, it still would have existed in other parts of the Greek world, such as Crete5. There is some argument among modern day historians as to the actual size of the slave population, due to the lack of vital evidence, such as a census. There is however a number of documents where the writers allude to the reader to a figure. Thucydides6 for example tells of some 20,000 Athenian slaves, most of whom were manual labourers deserting. He also points out in later documents that there were more slaves in Chios than any other city besides Sparta. Despite the lack of evidence Finley7 estimates a figure more like 60-80,000 slaves for the whole of Attica. On average it can be seen that most small farmers or landowners would have had at least 1 slave and wealthy households approximately 10-20. In an unusual case, Nikias8 owned some 1000 slaves, which he would hire out for work. The type of things that many slave traders and owners looked for when acquiring slaves were their characteristics which slaves possessed such as a placid temperament, attractiveness, youth, health, submissiveness, strength and so on. Depending on the skills and abilities of a slave would have a huge impact on the type of work that they could possibly carry out and the price that one could be sold for. Slaves however who were elderly, weak, sick or injured, stubborn were consid ered unfavourable as they would more than likely cause their masters trouble. The roles carried out by slaves were numerous and some were especially dangerous such as working as a crewmember on ships or in mines or quarries. A slave could expect a life of misery and danger, with many thousands killed. There were also a number of criminals or slaves with constant bad behaviour working in the mines, due to the conditions as it was assumed that they would not live very long. In agriculture and farming slaves worked as farmhands or shepherds. Hesiod9, in his Works and Days explains to a small farmer the greater value of a slave woman over a wife. First of all you should acquire a house and a woman and an ox for the plough, – A female slave, not a wife, who can follow the oxen as well. (Dillon Garland 2005:331, doc. 11. 8) Skilled slaves could also work as artisans and run shops for their masters, while slave labour was popular it in no way replaced free labour instead slaves com plimented the free labour workforce with free men in most Greek cities – except Sparta – working alongside slaves working the land, in retail trade or as artisans as Plutarch10 describes. As far as working as a slave went, one of the most prestigious roles, was being a domestic or household servant. These were among some of the most well treated slaves, some acquiring a sense of trustworthiness and responsibility, a few even obtained freedom for their loyalty and hard work. A good, well-behaved slave was treated as part of the family, were even allowed to take part in the family rituals like the sacrifice. A female had vastly different roles to that of male slaves. These would have included cooking, sewing and crafting, serving food, entertaining as dancing or flute girls, childcare, cleaning, shopping and fetching water. In wealthier households they could also specialize in being housekeepers, cooks or nurses. Women were greatly disadvantaged in Greek society due to t he underprivileged status in the social hierarchy, with even wealthy free women often secluded in their own homes. Unquestionably female slaves would often have a harder time than men and were frequently the target of sexual exploitation or physical abuse from their masters and or other members of their household. In these instances children born from master-slave liaisons would undoubtedly have been exposed. Slave girls could however rise to a certain level of trustworthiness, many wealthy women sought out confidantes in their slave girls, as Euripides11 expresses in his character Medea. It is likely that women and female slaves would have tied together, with the common exclusion from the masculine world of public affairs, regardless of social status. Occasionally household slaves were also given the privilege of being buried in plots next to their masters and mistresses upon their deaths. Aristotle12 spoke of slaves as the chattel property of the master, and thought this may have been the case, there were distinct and well protected laws when it came to slaves rights, or the treatment and punishment of slaves. For instance, though slaves could be very badly beaten they could not however be killed, instead slaves were treated according to their status and the temperament of their masters. Slaves were forbidden to enter the gymnasium or public assembly, they could not freely marry or have children, they could also not use any name other than the one their master gave them and most unfortunately for slaves was that they could only give evidence in a trial under torture. There were however special temples and sanctuaries that slaves could go to seek refuge and appeal that they be resold if their masters were particularly abusive to them13. One very important point to make is the difference between slaves, metics, helots and serfs. Metics were either foreigners, who migrated to cities other than the one where they were born or freed men. The metics could own slav es, ran businesses, had access to certain festivals. The restrictions for the metics were that they could not vote, own land or houses and needed a prostate or citizen patron. The ‘metoikian’14 tax made the metic class very powerful, as the revenue from this tax went to the state. Serfs had rights, they possessed money, could marry and divorce, serfs could also marry with free women. The helots were however not foreigners or slaves, they owned land and outnumbered the Spartans considerably, but they were still subjected to a state of servitude. Herodotus15 notes that the Spartans despised artisans and considered those who learnt crafts and their descendants as inferior to other citizens. Xenophon16 also shares these views in his account of Lykourgos. [. ] 7. 2 But at Sparta Lykourgos forbad free men to touch anything to do with making money, and instructed them only to think about those activities which provide cities with freedom. (Dillon Garland 2005:347, doc. 11. 5 7. 2) The Spartans were renowned for their harsh treatment of the helots despite relying upon them for produce and crafts, as well as occasionally in times of warfare to supplement their army, with an estimation of 35,000 serving at Plataea17. Because of the sheer number of helots the Spartans were aware of the potential threat of revolt, Thucydides18 accounts, the Spartans proclaimed that the helots nominate all those whom they considered had fought well in the Spartan wars, under the belief that these men would be granted freedom the helots picked out about 2,000 who later disappeared. Servile labour was a large part of the social and economic makeup of the classical Greek period, with most households owning at least one slave. Krates19, in his play The Wild Animals, promises automation of items as the alternative to slaves, mimicking Aristophanes position of slavery being taken for granted. Time constraints have unfortunately limited the depth of this essay, and prevented the fur ther examination of slaves in Greece at this time. 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How to Plan a Game Development Project

How to Plan a Game Development Project One of the most complicated aspects of game development is planning. Some would argue that small indie projects don’t need this step; they simply need to work on the project until it’s done. This is far from true. Initial Planning The design framework laid at the project’s origin will determine the course for the entire project’s development. Its important to remember at this step that nothing is set in stone, but you should attempt to be as accurate as possible. Feature List First, analyze the design document and determine the game’s requirements. Then, split out each requirement into a list of features that will be needed to implement the requirement. Breaking Down the Tasks Take each feature and work with your leads in each area (art, animation, programming, sound, level design, etc) to break it down into tasks for each department (a group or person, depending on the size of your team). Assigning Tasks The lead of each group should then create initial time requirement estimates for each task and assign them to team members. After this is complete, the lead should work with the team to ensure that the estimates are correct and reasonable. Dependencies The project manager then must take all the task estimates and place them into a project management software package, either Microsoft Project or Excel (the two long-time industry standards) or any of the newer choices available for agile project management. Once the tasks are added, the project manager must look at the tasks and match dependencies between teams to ensure that the timing of creating a feature doesn’t have impossible relationships that prevent it from being completed within necessary time frames. For example, to fully implement a racing game, you wouldnt schedule the coding of tire durability before the completion of the physics system. You would have no framework to base the tire code upon. Scheduling This is where things get particularly complicated, but where the need for project management in the first place becomes more apparent. The project manager assigns estimated start and completion dates for each task. In traditional project planning, you end up with a cascading â€Å"waterfall† view, which shows the timeline for completion of the project and the dependencies that link the tasks. Its critical to remember to factor in slippage, employee sick time, unexpected delays on features, etc. This is a time-consuming step, but it will quickly give you an idea of exactly how much time the project will take to complete. What to Do With the Data By looking at this project plan, you can determine if a feature is going to be costly in time (and, therefore, money) and make decisions about whether the feature is necessary for the game to succeed. You might decide that delaying a feature to update- or even a sequel- makes more sense. Also, tracking how long you’ve worked on a feature is useful in determining if its time to either try a new technique to solve the problem or cut the feature for the good of the project. Milestones A frequent use of project planning involves the creation of milestones. Milestones indicate when a certain element of functionality, a time period of working on the project, or a percentage of the tasks has been completed. For internal project tracking, milestones are useful for planning purposes and for giving the team specific goals to aim for. When working with a publisher, milestones frequently determine how and when the developing studio is paid. Final Notes Project planning is regarded by many as a nuisance, but youll almost always find that developers who plan projects well in advance and hit their milestones are the ones who succeed in the long run.

Introduction to Accounting and finance -- Economics, Finance and Assignment - 7

Introduction to Accounting and finance -- Economics, Finance and Management - Assignment Example The result is that immediately on payment for bulk purchases from UK supplier, the company will be requiring more than the available OD facility of  £25000. It appears from projected cash flows that after meeting payment for bulk purchases the company will be in position to manage its liquidity within the available line of credit. It must be remembered that â€Å"by using cash flow forecast, an entrepreneur can predict and plain the cash flow of a business.†(Justin G. Longenecker, page 390)ii . While planning cash flows, one of the major issues over which managers should concentrate in resolving the liquidity problems are seeking an extended credit period from suppliers as the company is making bulk purchases. Second issue is to approach the bank to raise line of credit from the existing limit of  £ 25000.Third issue that requires management’s concentration is to take advantage of the positive liquid position emerging from October 2010. The management must understand that cash flow forecast is â€Å"for internal purposes and is not subject to the rules we will lay for preparing profit and loss account and balance sheet.†(David Crowther, page 24)iii. â€Å"Profits are the funds that are left at the end of the period when all sales are booked and expenses are tallied.† (Craig Cochran, page 22)iv. Cash represent liquidity available with the company and profits are the result of good performance of any business. â€Å"Any one who has compared income statements and bank statements knows that profit never makes its way to the bank account exactly the same amount that appeared on the income statement.†(Gene Siciliano, page 76)v. Profit calculation involve measurement of non- cash transactions in order to arrive at a reasonably good assessment of a business activities over an accounting period, particular when accrual basis of accountancy is in operation. Credit sales and credit purchases are considered for the purposes

To What Extent is it Justifiable to Deviate from Fundamental Essay

To What Extent is it Justifiable to Deviate from Fundamental Principles of Criminal Law by Creating Driving Offences of Strict Liability, in the Interests of Maintaining Road Safety - Essay Example Without an iota of doubt, it can be said that the concept of law, and for that purpose criminal law, has come to find a midpoint between these two schools of thoughts by setting principles that both give freedom to people to behave as individual beings and also protect the interest of other people. Typical examples of such rules and regulations that can be identified as directly catering for both the freedom of the bearer and the interest of the holder are driving laws on the possession of insurance and valid driver’s license by car users. Such laws are in place to ensure that as much as people have the freedom to drive any car of their choice, they also have the needed training and security that will put other road users at safety. Notwithstanding the presence of such road user laws, which have been inculcated into existing criminal laws, there are studies and case laws that suggest increases in driving offenses and road user related offenses. This essay has therefore been written to hold a debate on the justification in deviating from fundamental principles of criminal law to create driving offenses of strict liability that will be in place with the interest of maintaining road safety. There are a number of thematic legal arguments that can be developed from the question under discussion. These are considered thematic legal arguments because they seem to raise issues that could be given different legal interpretations, an analysis of which can lead to a successful conclusion on the justification of deviating from principles of criminal law by creating driving offenses of strict liability in the interest of maintaining road safety. These thematic legal arguments have thus been discussed as follows.

Trends in Fiscal Policy of India Essay Example for Free

Trends in Fiscal Policy of India Essay ABSTRACT This essay traces the major developments in India’s fiscal policy from the early stages of planned development in the 1950s, through the country’s balance of payments crisis of 1991, the subsequent economic liberalisation and rapid growth phase, the response to the global financial crisis of 2008 and the recent post-crisis moves to return to a path of fiscal consolidation. The initial years of India’s planned Development strategy were characterised by a conservative fiscal policy whereby deficits were kept under control. The tax system was geared to transfer resources from the private sector to fund the large public sector driven industrialization process and also cover social welfare schemes. However, growth was anaemic and the system was prone to inefficiencies. In the 1980s some attempts were made to reform particular sectors. But the public debt increased, as did the fiscal deficit. India’s balance of payments crisis of 1991 led to economic liberalisation. The reform of the tax system commenced. The fiscal deficit was brought under control. When the deficit and debt situation again threatened to go out of control in the early 2000s, fiscal discipline legalisations were instituted. The deficit was brought under control and by 2007-08 a benign macro-fiscal situation with high growth and moderate inflation prevailed. During the global financial crisis fiscal policy responded with counter-cyclical measures including tax cuts and increases in expenditures. The post-crisis recovery of the Indian economy is witnessing a correction of the fiscal policy path towards a regime of prudence. In the future, the focus would probably be on bringing in new tax reforms and better targeting of social expenditures. INTRODUCTION Fiscal policy is the means by which a government adjusts its levels of spending in order to monitor and influence a nations economy. It is the sister strategy to monetary policy with which a central bank influences a nations money supply. These two policies are used in various combinations in an effort to direct a countrys economic goals. Here we take a look at how fiscal policy works, how it must be monitored and how its implementation may affect different people in an economy. Fiscal policy deals with the taxation and expenditure decisions of the government.Monetary policy, deals with the supply of money in the economy and the rate of interest.These are the main policy approaches used by economic managers to steer the broad aspects of the economy. In most modern economies, the government deals with fiscal policy while the central bank is responsible for monetary policy. Fiscal policy is composed of several parts. These include, tax policy, expenditure policy, investment or disinvestment strategies and debt or surplus management. Fiscal policy is an important constituent of the overall economic framework of a country and is therefore intimately linked with its general economic policy strategy. For example, if taxes were to increase, consumers would have less disposable income and in turn would have less money to spend on goods and services. This difference in disposable income would go to the government instead of going to consumers, who would pass the money onto companies. Or, the government could choose to increase government spending by directly purchasing goods and services from private companies. This would increase the flow of money through the economy and would eventually increase the disposable income available to consumers. Unfortunately, this process takes time, as the money needs to wind its way through the economy, creating a significant lag between the implementation of fiscal pol icy and its effect on the economy. In broad term fiscal policy refers to that segment of national economic policy which is primarily concerned with the receipts and expenditure of central government. The importance of fiscal policy is high in underdeveloped countries. The state has to play active and important role. In a democratic society direct methods are not approved. So, the government has to depend on indirect methods of regulations. In this way, fiscal policy is a powerful weapon in the hands of government by means of which it can achieve the objectives of development. BASIC CONCEPTS : A spending item is a capital expenditure if it relates to the creation of an asset that is likely to last for a considerable period of time and includes loan disbursements. Such expenditures are generally not routine in nature. By the same logic a capital receipt arises from the liquidation of an asset including the sale of government shares in public sector companies (disinvestments), the return of funds given on loan or the receipt of a loan. This again usually arises from a comparatively irregular event and is not routine. In contrast, revenue expenditures are fairly regular and generally intended to meet certain routine requirements like salaries, pensions, subsidies, interest payments, and the like. Revenue receipts represent regular earnings for instance tax receipts and non-tax revenues including from sale of telecom spectrums. There are various ways to represent and interpret a government’s deficit. The simplest is the revenue deficit which is just the difference between revenue receipts and revenue expenditures. Revenue Deficit = Revenue Expenditure – Revenue Receipts (that is Tax + Non-tax Revenue) A more comprehensive indicator of the government’s deficit is the fiscal deficit. This is the sum of revenue and capital expenditure less all revenue and capital receipts other than 6loans taken. This gives a more holistic view of the government’s funding situation since it gives the difference between all receipts and expenditures other than loans taken to meet such expenditures. Fiscal Deficit = Total Expenditure (that is Revenue Expenditure + Capital Expenditure) –(Revenue Receipts + Recoveries of Loans + Other Capital Receipts (that is all Revenue and Capital Receipts other than loans taken)) â€Å"The gross fiscal deficit (GFD) of government is the excess of its total expenditure, current and capital, including loans net of recovery, over revenue receipts (including external grants) and non-debt capital receipts.† The net fiscal deficit is the gross fiscal deficit reduced by net lending by government (Dasgupta and De, 2011). The gross primary deficit is the GFD less interest payments while the primary revenue deficit is the revenue deficit less interest payments. ARCHITECTURE: The Indian Constitution provides the overarching framework for the country’s fiscal policy. India has a federal form of government with taxing powers and spending responsibilities being divided between the central and the state governments according to the Constitution. There is also a third tier of government at the local level. Since the taxing abilities of the states are not necessarily commensurate with their spending responsibilities, some of the centre’s revenues need to be assigned to the state governments. To provide the basis for this assignment and give medium term guidance on fiscal matters, the Constitution provides for the formation of a Finance Commission (FC) every five years. Based on the report of the FC the central taxes are devolved to the state governments. The Constitution also provides that for every financial year, the government shall place before the legislature a statement of its proposed taxing and spending provisions for legislative debate an d approval. This is referred to as the Budget. The central and the state governments each have their own budgets. The central government is responsible for issues that usually concern the country as a whole like national defense, foreign policy, railways, national highways, shipping, airways, post and telegraphs, foreign trade and banking. The state governments are responsible for other items including, law and order, agriculture, fisheries, water supply and irrigation, and public health. Some items for which responsibility vests in both the Centre and the states include forests, economic and social planning, education, trade unions and industrial disputes, price control and electricity. There is now increasing devolution of some powers to local governments at the city, town and village levels. The taxing powers of the central government encompass taxes on income (except agricultural income), excise on goods produced (other than alcohol), customs duties, and inter-state sale of goods. The state governments are vested with the power to tax agricultural income, land and buildings, sale of goods (other than inter-state), and excise on alcohol. Besides the annual budgetary process, since 1950, India has followed a system of five-year plans for ensuring long-term economic objectives. This process is steered by the Planning Commission for which there is no specific provision in the Constitution. The main fiscal impact of the planning process is the division of expenditures into plan and non-plan components. The plan components relate to items dealing with long-term socioeconomic goals as determined by the ongoing plan process. They often relate to specific schemes and projects. Furthermore, they are usually routed through central ministries to state governments for achieving certain desired objectives. These funds are generally in addition to the assignment of central taxes as determined by the Finance Commissions. In some cases, the state governments also contribute their own funds to the schemes. Non-plan expenditures broadly relate to routine expenditures of the government for administration, salaries, and the like. While these institutional arrangements initially appeared adequate for driving the development agenda, the sharp deterioration of the fiscal situation in the 1980s resulted in the balance of payments crisis of 1991, which would be discussed later. Following economic liberalization in 1991, when the fiscal deficit and debt situation again seemed to head towards unsustainable levels around 2000, a new fiscal discipline framework was instituted. At the central level this framework was initiated in 2003 when the Parliament passed the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBMA). Taxes are the main source of government revenues. Direct taxes are so named since they are charged upon and collected directly from the person or organization that ultimately pays the tax (in a leg al sense).Taxes on personal and corporate incomes, personal wealth and professions are direct taxes. In India the main direct taxes at the central level are the personal and corporate income tax. Both are till date levied through the same piece of legislation, the Income Tax Act of 1961. Income taxes are levied on various head of income, namely, incomes from business and professions, salaries, house property, capital gains and other sources (like interest and dividends).Other direct taxes include the wealth tax and the securities transactions tax. Some other forms of direct taxation that existed in India from time to time but were removed as part of various reforms include the estate duty, gift tax, expenditure tax and fringe benefits tax. The estate duty was levied on the estate of a deceased person. The fringe benefits tax was charged on employers on the value of in-kind non-cash benefits or perquisites received by employees from their employers. Such perquisites are now largely taxed directly in the hands of employees and added to their personal income tax. Some states charge a tax on professions. Most local governments also charge property owners a tax on land and buildings. Indirect taxes are charged and collected from persons other than those who finally end up paying the tax (again in a legal sense). For instance, a tax on sale of goods is collected by the seller from the buyer. The legal responsibility of paying the tax to government lies with the seller, but the tax is paid by the buyer. The current central level indirect taxes are the central excise (a tax on manufactured goods), the service tax, the customs duty (a tax on imports) and the central sales tax on inter-state sale of goods. The main state level indirect tax is the post-manufacturing (that is wholesale and retail levels) sales tax (now largely a value added tax with intra-state tax credit). The complications and economic inefficiencies of this multiple cascading taxation across the economic value chain (necessitated by the constitutional assignment of taxing powers) are discussed later in the context of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). EVOLUTION (TILL 1991) India commenced on the path of planned development with the setting up of the Planning Commission in 1950. That was also the year when the country adopted a federal Constitution with strong unitary features giving the central government primacy in terms of planning for economic development (Singh and Srinivasan, 2004). The subsequent planning process laid emphasis on strengthening public sector enterprises as a means to achieve economic growth and industrial development. The resulting economic framework imposed administrative controls on various industries and a system of licensing and quotas for private industries. Consequently, the main role of fiscal policy was to transfer private savings to cater to the growing consumption and investment needs of the public sector. Other goals included the reduction of income and wealth inequalities through taxes and transfers, encouraging balanced regional development, fostering small scale industries and sometimes influencing the trends in econ omic activities towards desired goals (Rao and Rao, 2006). In terms of tax policy, this meant that both direct and indirect taxes were focussed on extracting revenues from the private sector to fund the public sector and achieve redistributive goals. The combined centre and state tax revenue to GDP ratio increased from 6.3 percent in 1950-51 to 16.1 percent in 1987-88.For the central government this ratio was 4.1 percent of GDP in 1950-51 with the larger share coming from indirect taxes at 2.3 percent of GDP and direct taxes at 1.8 percent of GDP. Given their low direct tax levers, the states had 0.6 percent of GDP as direct taxes and 1.7 percent of GDP as indirect taxes in 1950-51. The government authorised a comprehensive review of the tax system culminating in the Taxation Enquiry Commission Report of 1953. However, the government then invited the British economist Nicholas Kaldor to examine the possibility of reforming the tax system. Kaldor found the system inefficient and inequitable given the narrow tax base and inadequate reporting o f property income and taxation. He also found the maximum marginal income tax rate at 92 percent to be too high and suggested it be reduced to 45 percent. In view of his recommendations, the government revived capital gains taxation, brought in a gift tax, a wealth tax and an expenditure tax (which was not continued due to administrative complexities) (Herd and Leibfritz, 2008). Despite Kaldor’s recommendations income and corporate taxes at the highest marginal rate continued to be extraordinarily high. In 1973-74, the maximum rate taking in to account the surcharge was 97.5 percent for personal income above Rs. 0.2 million. The system was also complex with as many as eleven tax brackets. The corporate income tax was differential for widely held and closely held companies with the tax rate varying from 45 to 65 percent for some widely held companies. Though the statutory tax rates were high, given a large number of special allowances and depreciation, effective tax rates were much lower. The Direct Taxes Enquiry Committee of 1971 found that the high tax rates encouraged tax evasion. Following its recommendations in 1974-75 the personal income tax rate was brought down to 77 percent but the wealth tax rate was increased. The next major simplification was in 1985-86 when the number of tax brackets was reduced from eight to four and the highest income tax rate was brought down to 50 percent. In indirect taxes, a major component was the central excise duty. This was initially used to tax raw materials and intermediate goods and not final consumer goods. But by 1975-76 it was extended to cover all manufactured goods. The excise duty structure at this time was complicated and tended to distort economic decisions. Some commodities had specific duties while others had ad valorem rates. The tax also had a major †cascading effect‟ since it was imposed not just on final consumer goods but also on inputs and capital goods. In effect, the tax on the input was again ta xed at the next point of manufacture resulting in double taxation of the input. Considering that the states were separately imposing sales tax at the post-manufacturing wholesale and retail levels, this cascading impact was considerable. The Indirect Tax Enquiry Report of 1977 recommended introduction of input tax credits to convert the cascading manufacturing tax into a manufacturing value added tax (MANVAT). Instead, the modified value added tax (MODVAT) was introduced in a phased manner from 1986 covering only selected commodities. The other main central indirect tax is the customs duty. Given that imports into India were restricted, this was not a very large source of revenue. The tariffs were high and differentiated. Items at later stages of production like finished goods were taxed at higher rates than those at earlier stages, like raw materials. Rates also differed on the basis of perceived income elasticities with necessities taxed at lower rates than luxury goods. In 1985-86 the government presented its Long-Term Fiscal Policy stressing on the need to reduce tariffs, have fewer rates and eventually remove quantitative limits on imports. Some reforms were attempted but due to revenue raising considerations the tariffs in terms of the weighted average rate increased from 38 percent in 1980-81 to 87 percent in 1989-90. By 1990-91 the tariff structure had a range of 0 to 400 percent with over 10 percent of imports subjected to tariffs of 120 percent or more. Further complications arose from exemptions granted outside the budgetary process.In 1970-71, direct taxes contributed to around 16 percent of the central government’s revenues, indirect taxes about 58 percent and the remaining 26 percent came from nontax revenues. By 1990-91, the share of indirect taxes had increased to 65 percent, direct taxes shrank to 13 percent and non-tax revenues were at 22 percent. COMPOSITION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT REVENUES (1970-71): SOURCE: , http://dbie.rbi.org.in (Reserve Bank of India, 2011) COMPOSTION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT REVENUES(1990-91): SOURCE: , http://dbie.rbi.org.in (Reserve Bank of India, 2011) India’s expenditure norms remained conservative till the 1980s. From 1973-74 to 1978-79 the central government continuously ran revenue surpluses. Its gross fiscal deficit also showed a slow growth with certain episodes of downward movements.The state governments also ran revenue surpluses from 1974-75 to 1986-87, barring only 1984-85. Thereafter, limited reforms in specific areas including trade liberalisation, export promotion and investment in modern technologies were accompanied by increased expenditures financed by domestic and foreign borrowing (Singh and Srinivasan, 2004). The central revenue deficit climbed from 1.4 percent of GDP in 1980-81 to 2.44 percent of GDP by 1989-90. Across the same period the centre‟s gross fiscal deficit (GFD) climbed from 5.71 percent to 7.31 percent of GDP. Though the external liabilities of the centre fell from 7.16 percent of GDP in 1982-83 to 5.53 percent of GDP by 1990-91, in absolute terms the liabilities were large. Across the same period the total liabilities of the centre and the states increased from 51.43 percent of GDP to 64.75 percent of GDP. This came at the cost of social and capital expenditures. The interest component of aggregate central and state government disbursements reflects this quite clearly. The capital disbursements decreased from around 30 percent in 1980-81 to about 20 percent by 1990-91. In contrast, the interest component increased from around 8 percent to about 15 percent across the same period.Within revenue expenditures, in 1970-71, defence expenditures had the highest share of 34 percent; interest component was 19 percent while subsidies were only 3 percent. However, by 1990-91, the largest component was the interest share of 29 percent with subsidies constituting 17 percent and defence only 15 percent. Therefore, besides the burden of servicing the public debt, the subsidy burden was also quite great. While India‟s external debt and expenditure patterns were heading for unsustainable levels, the proximate causes of the balance of payments crisis came from certain unforeseen external and domestic political events. The First Gulf War caused a spike in oil prices leading to a sharp increase in the government‟s fuel subsidy burden. Furthermore, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi increased political uncertainties leading to the withdrawal of some foreign funds. The subsequent economic reforms changed the Indian economy forever. LIBERALIZATION ,GROWTH ,INCLUSION AND FISCAL CONSOLIDATION (1991-2008): Following the balance of payments crisis of 1991, the government commenced on a path of economic liberalisation whereby the economy was opened up to foreign investment and trade, the private sector was encouraged and the system of quotas and licences was dismantled. Fiscal policy was re-oriented to cohere with these changes. The Tax Reforms Committee provided a blue print for reforming both direct and indirect taxes. Its main strategy was to reduce the proportion of trade taxes in total tax revenue, increase the share of domestic consumption taxes by converting the excise into a VAT and enhance the contribution of direct taxes to total revenue. It recommended reducing the rates of all major taxes, minimizing exemptions and deductions, simplifying laws and procedures, improving tax administration and increasing computerisation and information system modernisation. As a part of the subsequent direct tax reforms, the personal income tax brackets were reduced to three with rates of 20, 30 and 40 percent in 1992-93. Financial assets were removed from the imposition of wealth tax and the maximum rate of wealth tax was reduced to 1 percent. Personal income tax rates were reduced again to 10, 20, and 30 percent in 1997-98. The rates have largely remained the same since with the exemption limit being increased and slab structure raised from time to time. A subsequent 2 percent surcharge to fund education was later made applicable to all taxes. The basic corporate tax rate was reduced to 50 percent and the rates for different closely held companies made uniform at 55 percent. In 1993-94, the distinction between the closely held and the widely held companies was removed and the uniform tax rate was brought down to 40 percent. The rate was further reduced to 35 percent with a 10 percent tax on distributed dividends in 1997-98 (Rao and Rao, 2006). Despite these reforms, the tax system continued to have preferential exemptions and deductions as tax incentives for various socio-economic goals including location of industries in backward areas, export promotion and technology development. This led to the phenomenon of „zero-tax companies‟ whereby imaginative arrangements were use to leverage all these tax incentives with an intent to minimise tax liabilities. To counter this trend,the Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) was introduced in 1996-97. It required a company to pay a minimum of 30 percent of book profits as tax. Further attempts to expand the tax base and increase revenues were the introduction of the securities transaction tax (STT) in 2004 and the fringe benefit tax (FBT) in the budget of 2005-06 In indirect taxes, the MODVAT credit system for excise was expanded to cover most commodities and provide a comprehensive credit system by 1996-97. The eleven rates were merged into three with a few luxury items subject to additional non-rebatable tax in 1999-2000. In 2000-01, the three rates were merged in to a single rate and renamed as central VAT (CENVAT). There remained three additional excises of 8, 16 and 24 percent. In case of custom duties, in 1991-92 all duties on non-agriculture goods that were above 150 percent were brought down to this rate. The „peak rate‟ was brought down to 40 percent in 1997-98, 30 percent in 2002-03, 25 percent in 2003-04, and 15 percent in 2005-06. The number of major duty rates was also brought down from 22 in 1990-91 to 4 in 2003-04. These four rates covered almost 90 percent of customs collected from items. This period also saw the introduction of the service tax in 1994-95, which was subsequently expanded to cover more and more services. Given that the Indian economy was having an increasingly large service component this increasingly became a major source of revenue. Eventually, provisions were made for allowing input tax credits for both goods and services at the central indirect tax level. Despite the reforms in central taxes, even after the economic reforms of 1991, state government tax reforms were inadequate and sporadic. A major move in this direction was the coordinated simplification of the state sales tax system in 1999. This eventually led to the introduction of a VAT in 21 states in 2005. The value added tax gives credit to taxes paid on inputs and provides relief from cascading. Implemented at the retail level this replaced the cascading sales tax providing great relief to consumers and traders alike while enhancing the revenues of the state government. The administrative design of the VAT ensures reporting of inputs and outputs resulting in substantial reduction in tax evasion. The basic features of the tax include two rates of 4 percent for common consumption commodities and inputs and 12.5 percent for the others. Some essential items are exempted and precious metals are taxed at 1 percent. The credit system covers inputs and purchases as also capital goods for manufacturers as well as dealers. Credit for capital goods taxes can be availed over three years of sales. The tax credit operates fully only for intra-state sales (Rao and Rao, 2006). This is a major hindrance to the formation of a smooth nationwide market and is to be addressed by the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). In consonance with the tax reform plans, the sources of central government revenue shifted from indirect taxes towards direct taxes. In 1995-96, about 54 percent of revenues came from indirect taxes while around 20 percent were from direct taxes (Figure 8). In 2000-01, the share of indirect taxes had gone down dramatically to around 45 percent while the contribution from direct taxes had increased to about 26 percent (Figure 9). By 2005-06, indirect taxes accounted for approximately 43 percent while the direct taxes share was about 35 percent.