The stock exchange market in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The stock exchange market in the UK - Essay Example This observance is furthered by the fact that the stock market in UK is weak-form efficient, while some capital market studies have called the stock exchange more towards being semi-strong-form efficient. Smith (2004) by studying the grain futures market pointed towards semi-strong form efficiency of the stock exchange because of the release of large trader position information. Further studies have compared the share prices after the takeover announcement with the bid offer. It was found that the share prices immediately adjusted to the correct levels.   Hence the study concluded that the stock market in the United Kingdom was semi-strong-form efficient.It must however be remembered that the market's ability to efficiently respond to an event like a takeover announcement which is widely publicized and short term in nature does not reflect on the market’s efficiency as is related to long term factors. David Dreman has pointed out that an instantaneous response is not always an efficient one and that the long-term performance of the stock market also needs to be considered before labeling a market efficient.The efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) states that the financial markets are "information efficient". As a result of this efficiency based on information, it is impossible to achieve constant returns that are greater than the average market returns, given the information that is available at the time of the investment.The advent of industrial revolution brought about the growth of a growing affluent merchant class.

The Importance of the Mare in Anton Chekhov’s Misery Essay -- Anton Ch

The Importance of the Mare in Misery  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Iona Potapov, the main character in Anton Chekhov’s short story, "Misery," is yearning for someone to listen to his woes. Every human he comes in contact with blatantly ignores his badly-needed-to-tell-story by either shunning him or falling asleep. There is, however, one character in this story that would willingly listen to Iona, a character who is with Iona through almost the entire story. This character is his mare. Renato Poggioli describes the story as being built "around two motionless figures, an animal and a man" (316). Iona and the mare are very much alike. They appear to be each other’s only companion, and they also act a lot alike. When Iona sits quietly, covered in snow that has recently fallen on him, his little mare is described as "white and motionless too" (17). Neither man nor mare cares move; both are still, frozen in time, waiting. Another example of the similar behavior between the two occurs when "the sledge driver clicks to the horse, cranes his neck like a swan. The mare cranes her neck, too" (18). As the story opens Iona sits in his sleigh desperately waiting for his first fare, and when that fare arrives he immediately starts to talk of his son’s death (18). Although his best possible friend – the mare – is already present to listen to his story, Iona does not come to this realization until much later in the story. At the beginning, he still believes that what he needs, and will be able to find, is another human being with whom to share his woes. The fare’s response to Iona’s story is, "have you gone cracked, you old dog? Look where you are going" (18). Iona, upset at this, continues to look around at the fare, in hopes of starting his story o... ... no longer keep silence about the death of his son. He speaks to the air, and the mare is listening. She doesn’t shun him, abuse him, or ignore him. She just listens, as any good animal would do. Works Cited Beck, Alan, M., and Aaron Honoria Katcher. "Animal Companions: More Companion Than Animal." Man and Beast Revisited. Ed. Michael H. Robinson and Lionel Tiger. Washington: Smithsonian P, 1991. 265-66. Chekhov, Anton. "Misery." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 17-21. Hildebrandt, Sherri. "Another Kind of Grief." St. Paul Pioneer Press 13 Sept. 1998: 1-4. Poggioli, Renato. "Storytelling in a Double Key." Anton Chekhov’s Short Stories. Ed. Ralph E. Matlaw. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1979. 316-317. Royal Bank of Canada. "Pets and Human Beings." Montreal: Royal Bank Letter, July/Aug. 1989.   

Integrated HR Solution with Payroll Software Leave

Having a proper HR solution is a key task for the HR executives to manage their employees. The primary job of HR manager is to manage employee's daily attendance, i. e. the employee's every day Time IN & Time OUT. There are various ways for it. Traditionally the companies using manual punch card machine, later proximity card system / barcode card system was in place. But still there was a problem of buddy punching (making proxy attendance for other employees). To address the issue Biometric Fingerprint system has introduced which is very fast / accurate & efficient. Once employee's time in  & out timing captured by any type of machine then it has to be linked to a Time Attendance Software to generate the useful attendance reports. Those calculated attendance details needs to be linked to payroll software for the employee salary calculation. In addition to that there is a need to maintain employee leaves like annual leave, medical leave, unpaid leave, etc†¦ If a HR manager has all the above solutions with different vendors / different platform then it will be very difficult to maintain and operate. There will be lot of hiccups to integrate the different software's and more importantly being the database is not integrated the newly join / resign employee details need to be entered multiple times in different software’s. So it very efficient and cost effective to have an integrated HR solution which comprises of fingerprint time recorders (preferably), time attendance, leave, Payroll & HR software's. Fingerprint Time Recorder: It is very efficient to have a fingerprint time recorders to track the employees attendance instead of having manual punch card. The biggest advantage of using the fingerprint system is the employees can't do the buddy punching (making proxy attendance for other employees). Usually in most of the fingerprint time recorder, Up to 3 fingers per employee can be registered. While doing attendance the employee can use any one of the finger to do clocking. The purpose of registering 3 fingerprints is if any one finger has problem due to injured / cut / dirty then the employee can use alternative finger. So it is better to have a fingerprint time recorder with higher capacity. Usually the time recorder will have the capacity of 500 / 3000 / 5000 fingerprint templates. It takes about one second to verify the employee finger, once verified the employee id, Date & time will be recorder into the device internal memory. Also it is good to have a device which can store more records. In general most of the fingerprint time recorder can store 20,000 / 30,000 / 50,000 records. Once the records reach the limit the new record will automatically overwrite the very first record. Those records can be downloaded to the Time Attendance Software via built-in Network card or via Thumb Drive. Time Attendance Software: Information from fingerprint time recorder can be transferred to the Time Attendance Software which will calculate the useful information like Lateness, Overtime, allowances, etc†¦ A good time attendance software should have the option for different shift patterns, Supports unlimited rotation duty roster, Auto-shift feature (System auto-assign working hours group based on IN time), Flexible working hours feature, Scheduling working hour's group feature (No fixed working pattern) Companies are paying daily allowances like shift allowance, meal allowance, transport allowance to the employees based on some conditions. For an example a company may like to pay $5 for night shift workers or a company may like to pay $2 who is working more than 5 hours of overtime. So the time attendance software should have all the above features. Good software should come with nicely designed useful reports like Daily attendance report, Individual attendance report, consolidated reports which consolidates the late comers, Early Leavers, Absents & missed out punching, Lateness summary report and Working hour's summary report. Payroll Software:  Payroll software is the one which computes the employee salaries. A well written payroll software should have the below options. The employee may be paid by hourly rate / daily rate/ monthly fixed basis. Other than the employee basic salary, the employee's overtime, daily allowances needs to be linked from the time attendance software. The employee may have some additions or deductions in every month salary like advance payment, medical claim, special allowance, etc†¦ And the employee unpaid leave, lateness & early leaving needs to be deducted from his salary. Different countries have their own computation for taxation & provident funds. So the payroll system should comply with the local government regulation for salary calculation. Finally the payroll should able to generate a pay-slip for individual employee with all his salary details which can be printed in an A4 size paper or sealed pay-slip paper. And payroll software must have useful reports like, Monthly Salary Summary Report, Overtime Payment Report, Taxation Report, Yearly Summary Report, and Monthly Reconciliation Report. Leave Module: A leave module either can be built in with the payroll system or it can be a separate Electronic Leave Application Portal. Leave Module built-in with payroll system: The HR Executive needs to update the employees Annual Leave, Medical Leave, Unpaid Leave, Maternity Leave, etc in to the system manually. Electronic Leave Module: The employee can apply their leaves electronically online via web browser. Those applied leaves can be approved by respective approving officers via online. This is paperless, convenient fast & easy. A good leave system should have the option to set Leave Eligibility for different group of employees and the Annual leave & Medical Leave earned until today should be prorated automatically. There must be an option to carry forward the balance annual leave to the next year. And the leave module should have the useful reports like Leave History & Leave consolidate report to view all kind of leaves taken.

Weighing the Evidence Was Cleopatra Black

That Cleopatra was an African queen is certain—Egypt is, after all, in Africa—but was Cleopatra black? Cleopatra VII is usually just known as Cleopatra, though she was the seventh royal Egyptian ruler to bear the name Cleopatra. She was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty to rule Egypt. She, like many other Ptolemy rulers, first married one brother and then, on his death, another. When her third husband, Julius Caesar, took Cleopatra back to Rome with him, she certainly caused a sensation. But did the color of her skin have anything to do with the controversy? Theres no record of any reaction to the color of her skin. In whats called the argument from silence, many conclude from that silence that she did not have dark-colored skin. But an argument from silence only indicates possibility, not certainty, especially because we have little record of the motivation for those reactions. Depictions of Cleopatra in Popular Culture Shakespeare uses the word tawny about Cleopatra—but Shakespeare wasnt exactly an eyewitness, missing meeting Egypts last Pharaoh by more than a millennium. In some Renaissance art, Cleopatra is portrayed as dark-skinned, a negress in the terminology of that time. But those artists were also not eyewitnesses, and their artistic interpretation may have been based on trying to depict Cleopatras otherness, or their own assumptions or conclusions about Africa and Egypt. In modern depictions, Cleopatra has been played by white actresses including Vivien Leigh,  Claudette Colbert, and  Elizabeth Taylor. But the writers of those movies were, of course, also not eyewitnesses, nor are these casting decisions in any sense credible evidence.  However, seeing these actresses in these roles may subtly influence what assumptions people have about what Cleopatra really looked like. Are Egyptians Black? Europeans and Americans became quite focused on the racial classification of Egyptians in the 19th century. While scientists and most scholars have by now concluded that race is not the static biological category that 19th century thinkers assumed, many of the theories around whether the Egyptians were a black race assume race is a biological category, not a social construction.   It is during the 19th century that attempts to classify the Egyptians into what were assumed to be the key races were common.  Whether other people of nearby lands—Jews and Arabs, for example—were white or Caucasians rather than Negroid was also part of this argument.  Some argued for a separate brown race or Mediterranean race. Some scholars (notably  Cheikh Anta Diop, a Pan-Africanist from Senegal) have argued for a sub-Saharan black African heritage of the Egyptians. Their conclusions are based on such arguments as the Biblical name Ham and the naming of Egypt as kmt or the black land. Other scholars point out that the association of the Biblical figure of Ham with dark-skinned sub-Saharan Africans, or a black race, is relatively recent in history, and that the black land name for Egypt has long been held to be about the black soil that is part of the phenomenon of Nile flooding. The most commonly accepted theory, outside the Black Egyptian theory of Diop and others, is whats known as the Dynastic Race Theory, developed out of research in the 20th century. In this theory, the indigenous people of Egypt, Badarian people, were invaded and overrun by Mesopotamian people, early in Egypts history.  The Mesopotamian people became the rulers of the state, for most of the dynasties of Egypt. Was Cleopatra Egyptian?   If Cleopatra was Egyptian in heritage, if she was descended from native Egyptians, then the heritage of Egyptians in general is relevant to the question of whether Cleopatra was black. If Cleopatras heritage was not Egyptian, then the arguments about whether Egyptians were black are irrelevant to her own blackness. What Do We Know About Cleopatras Ancestry? The Ptolemy dynasty, of which Cleopatra was the last ruler, was descended from a  Greek Macedonian named Ptolemy Soter. That first Ptolemy was established as ruler of Egypt by Alexander the Greats conquest of Egypt in 305 B.C.E. In other words, the Ptolemies were imperialist outsiders, Greeks, who ruled over native Egyptians. Many of the Ptolemy ruling family marriages were incestuous, with brothers marrying sisters, but not all the children born in the Ptolemy line and who are ancestors of Cleopatra VII are known to have had both father and mother who were Ptolemies. Here is the key evidence in this argument: We are not certain of the heritage of Cleopatras mother or her paternal grandmother. We just dont know for sure who those women were. Historical records are not conclusive of what their ancestry is or what land they come from. That leaves 50% to 75% of Cleopatras ancestry and genetic heritage unknown—and ripe for speculation.   Is there any evidence that either her mother or paternal grandmother was a black African? No.   Is there any evidence that either of those women were not black Africans? No, again. There are theories and speculation, based on sparse evidence, but no certainty where either of these women came from or what might be, in nineteenth century terms, their racial heritage. Who Was Cleopatras Father? The father of Cleopatra VII was Ptolemy XII Auletes, son of Ptolemy IX. Through his male line, Cleopatra VII was of Macedonian Greek descent.  But we know that heritage is also from mothers. Who was his mother and who was the mother of his daughter Cleopatra VII, the last Pharaoh of Egypt? Standard Genealogy of Cleopatra VII In one standard genealogy of Cleopatra VII, questioned by some scholars, Cleopatra VIIs parents are Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V, both children of Ptolemy IX.  Ptolemy XIIs mother is Cleopatra IV and Cleopatra Vs mother is Cleopatra Selene I, both full sisters of their husband, Ptolemy IX.  In this scenario, Cleopatra VIIs great-grandparents are Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III. Those two are full siblings, children of Ptolemy VI of Egypt and Cleopatra II, who are also full siblings—with still more intermarriages of full siblings back to the first Ptolemy.  In this scenario, Cleopatra VII has Macedonian Greek heritage, with little contribution from any other heritage for generations.  (The numbers are an addition from later scholars, not present in the lifetimes of these rulers, and may obscure some ambiguities in the records.) In another standard genealogy, Ptolemy XIIs mother is a Greek concubine and Cleopatra Vs mother is Cleopatra IV, not Cleopatra Selene I.  Cleopatra VIs parents are Ptolemy VI and Cleopatra II rather than Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III. The ancestry, in other words, is open to interpretation based on how one views the available evidence. Cleopatras Paternal Grandmother Some scholars conclude that Cleopatras paternal grandmother, mother of Ptolemy XII,  was not Cleopatra IV, but was a concubine. That womans background has been assumed to be either Alexandrian or Nubian. She may have been ethnically Egyptian, or she may have had a heritage which wed today call black. Cleopatras Mother Cleopatra V Cleopatra VIIs mother is usually identified as her fathers sister, Cleopatra V, a royal wife. Mention of Cleopatra Tryphaena, or Cleopatra V, disappear from the record around the time that Cleopatra VII was born.   Cleopatra V, while often identified as a younger daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III, may not have been the daughter of a royal wife.  If this scenario is accurate, Cleopatra VIIs maternal grandmother may be another Ptolemy relative or someone unknown, perhaps of a concubine of Egyptian or Semitic African or black African background. Cleopatra V, if she died before Cleopatra VII was born, would not be her mother. In that case, Cleopatra VIIs mother would likely have been either a Ptolemy relative, or, again, someone unknown, who might have been of Egyptian, Semitic African, or black African heritage. The record is simply not conclusive as to the ancestry of either Cleopatra VIIs mother or maternal grandmother.  The women may have been Ptolemies, or they may have been of either black African or Semitic African heritage. Race: What Is It and What Was It in Antiquity? Complicating such discussions is the fact that race itself is a complex issue, with unclear definitions. Race is a social construct, rather than a biological reality. In the classical world, difference was more about ones national heritage and homeland, rather than something wed today call race. Theres certainly evidence that Egyptians defined as other and less those who were not Egyptians.  Did skin color play a part in identifying other at the time, or did Egyptians believe in the heritability of an otherness of skin color?  Theres little evidence that skin color was more than a marker of difference, that skin color was conceived of in the way that 18th and 19th century Europeans came to conceive of race. Cleopatra Spoke Egyptian We do have early evidence that Cleopatra was the first ruler in her family to actually speak the native Egyptian language, rather than the Greek of the Ptolemies.  Such could be evidence for an Egyptian ancestry, and could possibly but not necessarily include black African ancestry. The language she spoke doesnt add or subtract any real weight from an argument about black African ancestry. She might have learned the language for political reasons or just from exposure to servants and an ability to pick up language. Evidence Against a Black Cleopatra: Incomplete Perhaps the strongest evidence cited against Cleopatra having black ancestry is that the Ptolemy family was quite xenophobic—against outsiders including the native Egyptians they ruled for about 300 years. This was more as a continuation of Egyptian custom among rulers than it was racial prejudice—if daughters married within the family, then loyalty was not divided. But its not likely that those 300 years passed with only pure heritage—and, in fact, we can be skeptical that either Cleopatras mother and father had mothers who were of pure Macedonian Greek ancestry. Xenophobia could also account for active cover-up or simply omitting mention of any other ancestry than Macedonian Greek. Evidence for a Black Cleopatra: Flawed Unfortunately, the modern proponents of the Black Cleopatra theory—starting with J. A. Rogers in Worlds Great Men of Color in the 1940s—have made other obvious errors in defending the thesis (Rogers is confused about who Cleopatras father was, for instance). They make other claims (like that Cleopatras brother, whom Rogers thinks is her father, had obvious black features) without evidence. Such errors and unsubstantiated claims dont add strength to their argument. A BBC documentary, Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer, looks at a skull which might be from a sister of Cleopatra—or rather, the documentary looks at the reconstruction of a skull, since no actual skull was found in the tomb—to show features which have similarities to both Semitic and Bantu skulls. Their conclusion was that Cleopatra could have had black African ancestry—but that is not conclusive evidence that she did  have such ancestry. Conclusions: More Questions Than Answers Was Cleopatra black? Its a complicated question, with no sure answer. It is likely that Cleopatra had ancestry other than pure Macedonian Greek. Was it black African? We dont know. Can we say for sure it was not? No. Was her skin color very dark? Probably not.