Automatic Encoding Detection And Unicode Conversion Engine Computer Science Essay

Automatic Encoding Detection And Unicode Conversion Engine Computer Science Essay In computers, characters are represented using numbers. Initially the encoding schemes were designed to support the English alphabet, which has a limited number of symbols. Later the requirement for a worldwide character encoding scheme to support multi lingual computing was identified. The solution was to come up with a 16 encoding scheme to represent a character so that it can support up to large character set. The current Unicode version contains 107,000 characters covering 90 scripts. In the current context operating systems such as Windows 7, UNIX based operating systems applications such as word processors and data exchange technologies do support this standard enabling internationalization in the IT industry. Even though this standard has been the de facto standard, still there can be seen certain applications using proprietary encoding schemes to represent the data. As an example, famous Sinhala news sites still do not adapt Unicode standard based fonts to represent the conte nt. This causes issues such as the requirement of downloading proprietary fonts, browser dependencies making the efforts of Unicode standard in vain. In addition to the web site content itself there are collections of information included in documents such as PDFs in non Unicode fonts making it difficult to search through search engines unless the search term is entered in that particular font encoding. This has given the requirement of automatically detecting the encoding and transforming into the Unicode encoding in the corresponding language, so that it avoids the problems mentioned. In case of web sites, a browser plug-in implementation to support the automatic non-Unicode to Unicode conversion would eliminate the requirement of downloading legacy fonts, which uses proprietary character encodings. Although some web sites provide the source font information, there are certain web applications, which do not give this information, making the auto detection process more difficult. Hence it is required to detect the encoding first, before it has been fed to the transformation process. This has given the rise to a research area of auto detecting the language encoding for a given text based on language characteristics. This problem will be addressed based on a statistical language encoding detection mechanism. The technique would be demonstrated with the support for all the Sinhala Non Unicode encodings. The implementation for the demonstration will make sure that it is an extendible solution for other languages making it support for any given language based on a future requirement. Since the beginning of the computer age, many encoding schemes have been created to represent various writing scripts/characters for computerized data. With the advent of globalization and the development of the Internet, information exchanges crossing both language and regional boundaries are becoming ever more important. However, the existence of multiple coding schemes presents a significant barrier. The Unicode has provided a universal coding scheme, but it has not so far replaced existing regional coding schemes for a variety of reasons. Thus, todays global software applications are required to handle multiple encodings in addition to supporting Unicode. In computers, characters are encoded as numbers. A typeface is the scheme of letterforms and the font is the computer file or program which physically embodies the typeface. Legacy fonts use different encoding systems for assigning the numbers for characters. This leads to the fact that two legacy font encodings defining different numbers for the same character. This may lead to conflicts with how the characters are encoded in different systems and will require maintaining multiple encoding fonts. The requirement of having a standard to unique character identification was satisfied with the introduction of Unicode. Unicode enables a single software product or a single website to be targeted across multiple platforms, languages and countries without re-engineering. Unicode Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the worlds writing systems. The latest Unicode has more than 107,000 characters covering 90 scripts, which consists of a set of code charts. The Unicode Consortium co-ordinates Unicodes development and the goal is to eventually replace existing character encoding schemes with Unicode and its standard Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) schemes. This standard is being supported in many recent technologies including Programming Languages and modern operating systems. All W3C recommendations have used Unicode as their document character set since HTML 4.0. Web browsers have supported Unicode, especially UTF-8, for many years [4], [5]. Sinhala Legacy Font Conversion Requirement for Web Content Sinhala language usage in computer technology has been present since 1980s but the lack of standards in character representation system resulted in proprietary fonts. Sinhala was added to Unicode in 1998 with the intention of overcoming the limitations in proprietary character encodings. Dinamina, DinaminaUniWeb, Iskoola Pota, KandyUnicode, KaputaUnicode, Malithi Web, Potha are some Sinhala Unicode fonts which were developed so that the numbers assigned with the characters are the same. Still some major news sites which display Sinhala character contents have not adapted the Unicode standards. The Legacy Fonts encoding schemes are used instead causing the conflicts in content representation. In order to minimize the problems, font families were created where the shape of characters only differs but the encoding remains the same. FM Font Family, DL Font Family are some examples where a font family concept is used as a grouping of Sinhala fonts with similar encodings [1], [2]. Adaptation of non Unicode encodings causes a lot of compatibility issues when viewed in different browsers and operating systems. Operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows7 come with Sinhala Unicode support and do not require external fonts to be installed to read Sinhalese script. Variations of GNU/Linux distributions such as Dabian or Ubuntu also provide Sinhala Unicode support. Enabling non Unicode applications especially web contents with the support for Unicode fonts will allow the users to view contents without installing the legacy fonts. Non Unicode PDF Documents In addition to the contents in the web, there exists a whole lot of government documents which are in PDF format but their contents are encoded with legacy fonts. Those documents would not be searchable through search engines by entering the search terms in Unicode. In order to overcome the problem it is important to convert such documents in to a Unicode font so that they are searchable and its data can be used by other applications consistently, irrespective of the font. As another part of the project this problem would be addressed through a converter tool, which creates the Unicode version of existing PDF document which are currently in legacy font. The Problem Sections 1.3, 1.4 describe two domains in which the Non Unicode to Unicode conversion is required. The conversion involves identification of non-Unicode contents and replacing it with the corresponding Unicode contents. The content replacement requires a Mapping engine, which would do the proper segmentation of the input text and map it with the corresponding Unicode code. The mapping engine can perform the mapping task only if it knows what is the source text encoding. In general, the encoding is specified along with the content so that the mapping engine could feed it directly. However, in certain cases the encoding is not specified along with the content. Hence detecting the encoding through an encoding the detection engine provides a research area, especially with the non-Unicode content. In addition to that, incorporating the detection engine along with a conversion engine would be another part of the problem, to solve the application areas in 1.3, 1.4. Project Scope The system will be initially targeted for Sinhala fonts used by local sites. Later the same mechanism will be extended to support other languages and scripts (Tamil, Devanagaree). Deliverables and outcomes Web Service/Plug-in to Local Language web site Font Conversion which automatically converts website contents from legacy fonts to Unicode. PDF document conversion tool to convert legacy fonts to Unicode In both implementations, the language encoding detection would use the proposed encoding detection mechanism. It can be considered as the core for the implementations in addition to the translation engine which performs the Non Unicode to Unicode mapping. Literature Review Character Encodings Character Encoding Schemes Encoding refers to the process of representing information in some form. Human language is an encoding system by which information is represented in terms of sequences of lexical units, and those in terms of sound or gesture sequences. Written language is a derivative system of encoding by which those sequences of lexical units, sounds or gestures are represented in terms of the graphical symbols that make up some writing system. A character encoding is an algorithm for presenting characters in digital form as sequences of octets. There are hundreds of encodings, and many of them have different names. There is a standardized procedure for registering an encoding. A primary name is assigned to an encoding, and possibly some alias names. For example, ASCII, US-ASCII, ANSI_X3.4-1986, and ISO646-US are different names for an encoding. There are also many unregistered encodings and names that are used widely. The character encoding names are not case sensitive and hence ASCII and Ascii are equivalent [25]. Figure 2.1 Character encoding Example Single Octet Encodings When character repertoire that contains at most 256 characters, assigning a number in the range 0255 to each character and use an octet with that value to represent that character is the most simplest and obvious way. Such encodings, called single-octet or 8-bit encodings, are widely used and will remain important [22]. Multi-Octet Encodings In multi octet encodings more than one octet is used to represent a single character. A simple two-octet encoding is sufficient for a character repertoire that contains at most 65,536 characters. Two octet schemes are uneconomical if the text mostly consists of characters that could be presented in a single-octet encoding. On the other hand, the objective of supporting Universal character set is not achievable with just 65,536 unique codes. Thus, encodings that use a variable number of octets per character are more common. The most widely used among such encodings is UTF-8 (UTF stands for Unicode Transformation Format), which uses one to four octets per character. Principles of Unicode Standard Unicode has used as the universal encoding standard to encode characters in all living languages. To the end, is follows a set of fundamental principles. The Unicode standard is simple and consistent. It does not depend on states or modes for encoding special characters. The Unicode standard incorporates the character sets of many existing standards: For example, it includes Latin-I, character set as its first 256 characters. It includes repertoire of characters from numerous other corporate, national and international standards as well. In modern businesses needs handle characters from a wide variety of languages at the same time. With Unicode, a single internationalization process can produce code that handles the requirements of all the world markets at the same time. The data corruption problems do not occur since Unicode has a single definition for each character. Since it handles the characters for all the world markets in a uniform way, it avoids the complexities of different character code architectures. All of the modern operating systems, from PCs to mainframes, support Unicode now, or are actively developing support for it. The same is true of databases, as well.There are 10 design principles associated with Unicode. Universility The Unicode is designed to be Universal. The repertoire must be large enough to encompass all characters that are likely to be used in general text interchange. Unicode needs to encompass a variety of essentially different collections of characters and writing systems. For example, it cannot postulate that all text is written left to right, or that all letters have uppercase and lowercase forms, or that text can be divided into words separated by spaces or other whitespace. Efficient Software does not have to maintain state or look for special escape sequences, and character synchronization from any point in a character stream is quick and unambiguous. A fixed character code allows for efficient sorting, searching, display, and editing of text. But with Unicode efficiency there exist certain tradeoffs made specially with the storage requirements needing four octets for each character. Certain representation forms such as UTF-8 format requiring linear processing of the data stream in order to identify characters. Unicode contains a large amount of characters and features that have been included only for compatibility with other standards. This may require preprocessing that deals with compatibility characters and with different Unicode representations of the same character (e.g., letter à © as a single character or as two characters). Characters, not glyphs Unicode assigns code points to characters as abstractions, not to visual appearances. A character in Unicode represents an abstract concept rather than the manifestation as a particular form or glyph. As shown in Figure 2.2, the glyphs of many fonts that render the Latin character A all correspond to the same abstract character a. Figure 2.2: Abstract Latin Letter a and Style Variants Another example is the Arabic presentation form. An Arabic character may be written in up to four different shapes. Figure 2.3 shows an Arabic character written in its isolated form, and at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of a word. According to the design principle of encoding abstract characters, these presentation variants are all represented by one Unicode character. Figure 2.3: Arabic character with four representations The relationship between characters and glyphs is rather simple for languages like English: mostly each character is presented by one glyph, taken from a font that has been chosen. For other languages, the relationship can be much more complex routinely combining several characters into one glyph. Semantics Characters have well-defined meanings. When the Unicode standard refers to semantics, it often means the properties of characters, such spacing, combinability, and directionality, rather than what the character really means. Plain text Unicode deals with plain texti.e., strings of characters without formatting or structuring information (except for things like line breaks). Logical order The default representation of Unicode data uses logical order of data, as opposed to approaches that handle writing direction by changing the order of characters. Unification The principle of uniqueness was also applied to decide that certain characters should not be encoded separately. Unicode encodes duplicates of a character as a single code point, if they belong to the same script but different languages. For example, the letter à ¼ denoting a particular vowel in German is treated as the same as the letter à ¼ in Spanish. The Unicode standard uses Han unification to consolidate Chinese, Korean, and Japanese ideographs. Han unification is the process of assigning the same code point to characters historically perceived as being the same character but represented as unique in more than one East Asian ideographic character standard. These results in a group of ideographs shared by several cultures and significantly reduces the number of code points needed to encode them. The Unicode Consortium chose to represent shared ideographs only once because the goal of the Unicode standard was to encode characters independent of the languages that use them. Unicode makes no distinctions based on pronunciation or meaning; higher-level operating systems and applications must take that responsibility. Through Han unification, Unicode assigned about 21,000 code points to ideographic characters instead of the 120,000 that would be required if the Asian languages were treated separately. It is true that the same charact er might look slightly different in Chinese than in Japanese, but that difference in appearance is a font issue, not a uniqueness issue. Figure 2.4: Han Unification example The Unicode standard allows for character composition in creating marked characters. It encodes each character and diacritic or vowel mark separately, and allows the characters to be combined to create a marked character. It provides single codes for marked characters when necessary to comply with preexisting character standard. Dynamic composition Characters with diacritic marks can be composed dynamically, using characters designated as combining marks. Equivalent sequences Unicode has a large number of characters that are precomposed forms, such as à ©. They have decompositions that are declared as equivalent to the precomposed form. An application may still treat the precomposed form and the decomposition differently, since as strings of encoded characters, they are distinct. Convertibility Character data can be accurately converted between Unicode and other character standards and specifications. South Asian Scripts The scripts of South Asia share so many common features that a side-by-side comparison of a few will often reveal structural similarities even in the modern letterforms. With minor historical exceptions, they are written from left to right. They are all abugidas in which most symbols stand for a consonant plus an inherent vowel (usually the sound /a/). Word-initial vowels in many of these scripts have distinct symbols, and word-internal vowels are usually written by juxtaposing a vowel sign in the vicinity of the affected consonant. Absence of the inherent vowel, when that occurs, is frequently marked with a special sign [17]. Another designation is preferred in some languages. As an example in Hindi, the word hal refers to the character itself, and halant refers to the consonant that has its inherent vowel suppressed. The virama sign nominally serves to suppress the inherent vowel of the consonant to which it is applied; it is a combining character, with its shape varying from script to script. Most of the scripts of South Asia, from north of the Himalayas to Sri Lanka in the south, from Pakistan in the west to the easternmost islands of Indonesia, are derived from the ancient Brahmi script. The oldest lengthy inscriptions of India, the edicts of Ashoka from the third century BCE, were written in two scripts, Kharoshthi and Brahmi. These are both ultimately of Semitic origin, probably deriving from Aramaic, which was an important administrative language of the Middle East at that time. Kharoshthi, written from right to left, was supplanted by Brahmi and its derivatives. The descendants of Brahmi spread with myriad changes throughout the subcontinent and outlying islands. There are said to be some 200 different scripts deriving from it. By the eleventh century, the modern script known as Devanagari was in ascendancy in India proper as the major script of Sanskrit literature. The North Indian branch of scripts was, like Brahmi itself, chiefly used to write Indo-European languages such as Pali and Sanskrit, and eventually the Hindi, Bengali, and Gujarati languages, though it was also the source for scripts for non-Indo-European languages such as Tibetan, Mongolian, and Lepcha. The South Indian scripts are also derived from Brahmi and, therefore, share many structural characteristics. These scripts were first used to write Pali and Sanskrit but were later adapted for use in writing non-Indo-European languages including Dravidian family of southern India and Sri Lanka. Sinhala Language Characteristics of Sinhala The Sinhala script, also known as Sinhalese, is used to write the Sinhala language, by the majority language of Sri Lanka. It is also used to write the Pali and Sanskrit languages. The script is a descendant of Brahmi and resembles the scripts of South India in form and structure. Sinhala differs from other languages of the region in that it has a series of prenasalized stops that are distinguished from the combination of a nasal followed by a stop. In other words, both forms occur and are written differently [23]. Figure 2.5: Example for prenasalized stop in Sinhala In addition, Sinhala has separate distinct signs for both a short and a long low front vowel sounding similar to the initial vowel of the English word apple, usually represented in IPA as U+00E6 à ¦ latin small letter ae (ash). The independent forms of these vowels are encoded at U+0D87 and U+0D88. Because of these extra letters, the encoding for Sinhala does not precisely follow the pattern established for the other Indic scripts (for example, Devanagari). It does use the same general structure, making use of phonetic order, matra reordering, and use of the virama (U+0DCA sinhala sign al-lakuna) to indicate conjunct consonant clusters. Sinhala does not use half-forms in the Devanagari manner, but does use many ligatures. Sinhala Writing System The Sinhala writing system can be called an abugida, as each consonant has an inherent vowel (/a/), which can be changed with the different vowel signs. Thus, for example, the basic form of the letter k is à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡ ka. For ki, a small arch is placed over the à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡: à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. This replaces the inherent /a/ by /i/. It is also possible to have no vowel following a consonant. In order to produce such a pure consonant, a special marker, the hal kirÄ «ma has to be added: à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…   . This marker suppresses the inherent vowel. Figure 2.6: Character associative Symbols in Sinhala Historical Symbols. Neither U+0DF4 sinhala punctuation kunddaliya nor the Sinhala numerals are in general use today, having been replaced by Western-style punctuation and Western digits. The kunddaliya was formerly used as a full stop or period. It is included for scholarly use. The Sinhala numerals are not presently encoded. Sinhala and Unicode In 1997, Sri Lanka submitted a proposal for the Sinhala character code at the Unicode working group meeting in Crete, Greece. This proposal competed with proposals from UK, Ireland and the USA. The Sri Lankan draft was finally accepted with slight modifications. This was ratified at the 1998 meeting of the working group held at Seattle, USA and the Sinhala Code Chart was included in Unicode Version 3.0 [2]. It has been suggested by the Unicode consortium that ZWJ and ZWNJ should be introduced in Orthographic languages like Sinhala to achieve the following: 1. ZWJ joins two or more consonants to form a single unit (conjunct consonants). 2. ZWJ can also alter shape of preceding consonants (cursiveness of the consonant). 3. ZWNJ can be used to disjoin a single ligature into two or more units. Encoding auto Detection Browser and auto-detection In designing auto detection algorithms to auto detect encodings in web pages it needs to depend on the following assumptions on input data [24]. Input text is composed of words/sentences readable to readers of a particular language. Input text is from typical web pages on the Internet which is not an ancient dead language. The input text may contain extraneous noises which have no relation to its encoding, e.g. HTML tags, non-native words (e.g. English words in Chinese documents), space and other format/control characters. Methods of auto detection The paper[24] discusses about 3 different methods for detecting the encoding of text data. Coding Scheme Method In any of the multi-byte encoding coding schemes, not all possible code points are used. If an illegal byte or byte sequence (i.e. unused code point) is encountered when verifying a certain encoding, it is possible to immediately conclude that this is not the right guess. Efficient algorithm to detecting character set using coding scheme through a parallel state machine is discussed in the paper [24]. For each coding scheme, a state machine is implemented to verify a byte sequence for this particular encoding. For each byte the detector receives, it will feed that byte to every active state machine available, one byte at a time. The state machine changes its state based on its previous state and the byte it receives. In a typical example, one state machine will eventually provide a positive answer and all others will provide a negative answer. Character Distribution Method In any given language, some characters are used more often than other characters. This fact can be used to devise a data model for each language script. This is particularly useful for languages with a large number of characters such as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The tests were carried out with the data for simplified Chinese encoded in GB2312, traditional Chinese encoded in Big, Japanese and Korean. It was observed that a rather small set of coding points covers a significant percentage of characters used. Parameter called Distribution Ration was defined and used for the purpose separating the two encodings. Distribution Ratio = the Number of occurrences of the 512 most frequently used characters divided by the Number of occurrences of the rest of the characters. . Two-Char Sequence Distribution Method In languages that only use a small number of characters, we need to go further than counting the occurrences of each single character. Combination of characters reveals more language-characteristic information. 2-Char Sequence as 2 characters appearing immediately one after another in input text, and the order is significant in this case. Just as not all characters are used equally frequently in a language, 2-Char Sequence distribution also turns out to be extremely language/encoding dependent. Current Approaches to Solve Encoding Problems Siyabas Script The SiyabasScript is as an attempt to develop a browser plugin, which solves the problem using legacy font in Sinhala news sites [6]. It is an extension to Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers. This solution was specifically designed for a limited number of target web sites, which were having the specific fonts. The solution had the limitation of having to reengineer the plug-in, if a new version of the browser is released. The solution was not global since that id did not have the ability to support a new site which is using a Sinhala legacy font. In order to overcome that, the proposed solution will identify the font and encodings based on the content but not on site. There is a chance that the solution might not work if the site decided to adapt another legacy font, as it cannot detect the encoding scheme changes. There is a significant delay in the conversion process. The user would notice the display of the content with characters which are in legacy font before they g et converted to the Unicode. This performance delay can be also identified as an area to improve in the solution. The conversion process does not provide the exact conversion specially when the characters need to be combined in Unicode. à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ´Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ = à  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ º à  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  .à  Ã‚ ¶Ã¢â‚¬â„¢.à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ´Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬Å". à  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ » à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¸Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ­Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ , à  Ã‚ ¶Ã…“à  Ã‚ ·Ã‹Å"à  Ã‚ ·Ã‹Å"à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ´Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…   à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ´Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ­Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…   à  Ã‚ ¶Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ©Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‹Å"à  Ã‚ ·Ã‹Å" à  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã†â€™Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ »Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ º, à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡ à  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ »Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…   , à  Ã‚ ¶Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã†â€™Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ »Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ½Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ºÃƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬  , à  Ã‚ ¶Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ +à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ »Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ºÃƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…   à  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ± à  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬Å"à  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ » ,à  Ã‚ ¶Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬Å"à  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ »Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ©Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã‚ Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã…“à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ «Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ºÃƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã… ¡Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬Å" ,à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¯`à  Ã‚ ¶Ã…“ à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ´Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¯Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â‚¬  à  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ºÃƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…  Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ±Ãƒ  Ã‚ ·Ã…   can be mentioned as the examples of words of such conversion issues. The plug-in supports the Sinhala Unicode conversion for the sites www.lankadeepa.lk, www.lankaenews.com and www.lankascreen.com. But the other websites mentioned in the paper does not get properly converted to Sinhala with Firefox version 3.5.17. Aksharamukha Asian Script Converter Aksharamukha is a South: South-East-Asian script convertor tool. It supports transliteration between Brahmi derived Asian scripts. It also has the functionality to transliterate web pages from Indic Scripts to other scripts. The Convertor scrapes the HTML page, then transliterates the Indic Scripts and displays the HTML. There are certain issues in the tool when it comes to alignment with the original web page. Misalignments and missing images, unconverted hyperlinks are some of them. Figure 2.7: Aksharamukha Asian Script Converter Corpus-based Sinhala Lexicon The Lexicon of a language is its vocabulary including higher order constructs such as words and expressions. In order to detect the encoding of a given text this can be used as a supporting tool. Corpus based Sinhala lexicon has nearly 35000 entries based on a corpus consisting of 10 million words from diverse genres such as technical writing, creative writing and news reportage [7], [9]. The text distribution across genres is given in table 1. Table 2.1: Distribution of Words across Genres [7] Genre Number of words Percentage of words Creative Writing 2340999 23% Technical Writing 4357680 43% News Reportage 3433772 34% N-gram-based language, script, and encoding scheme-detection N-Gram refers to N character sequences and is used as a well-established technique used in classifying language of text documents. The method detects language, script, and encoding schemes using a target text document encoded by computer by checking how many byte sequences of the target match the byte sequences that can appear in the texts belonging to a language, script, and encoding scheme. N-grams are extracted from a string, or a document, by a sliding window that shifts one character at a time. Sinhala Enabled Mobile Browser for J2ME Phones Mobile phone usage is rapidly increasing throughout the world as well as in Sri Lanka. It has become the most ubiquitous communication device. Accessing internet through the mobile phone has become a common activity of people especially for messaging and news items. In J2ME enabled phones Sinhala Unicode support yet to be developed. They do not allow installation of fonts outside. Hence those devices will not be able to display Unicode contents, especially on the web, until Unicode is supported by the platform. Integrating the Unicode viewing support will provide a good opportunity to carry the technology to remote areas if it can be presented in the native language. If this is facilitated, in addition to the urban crowd, people from rural areas will be able to subscribe to a daily newspaper with their mobile. One major advantage of such an application is that it will provide a phone model independent solution which supports any Java enabled phone. Cillion is a Mini browser software which shows Unicode contents in J2ME phones. This software is an application developed with the fonts integrated wh

Challenges of Ecotourism in Antarctica Essay

Antarctica is one of the largest and most fragile environments on earth. It is rare and unique, and few people get the opportunity to visit such an extraordinary place. Antarctica’s unique environment and climate sets it apart from other tourist destinations. However, the hostile wilderness creates many challenges for ecotourism. There is a concern regarding the high concentration of tourists and their environmental impact at the few landing sites available. The real debate is whether tourism can benefit, or threaten the conservation of Antarctica. Ecotourism, in its early historical origins has been closely linked to nature – oriented tourism. For example, Laarman and Durst, in reference to ecotourism, defined it as a nature tourism where a traveler is interested and drawn to a destination because of its features and natural history. The visit combines education, recreation, and often adventure’ (Laarman and Durst 1987:5). Defining ecotourism is not easily done, difficulties defining it are mainly due to the multidimensional nature of the definitions, and the fact that each dimension involved represents a continuum of possibilities (Blamey 1997). The Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as ‘responsible travel to natural areas, which conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people’ (Western 1993:8). Ceballos-Lascurain (1987: 14) defines ecotourism as ‘traveling to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any existing cultural manifestations (both past and present) found in these areas’. The tourism industry of Antarctica is often overlooked as a factor of environmental degradation. It is important that more attention is drawn to assessing the current state of this large continent. Beck (1994) states that, tourists, scientists, and other visitors to Antarctica have tremendous environmental impacts. Tourist shipping can pose an environmental risk, and there is good reason for concern. There have been several marine accidents in recent years. There was the case of an Argentinean supply vessel Bahia Paraiso, which ran a ground on January 28, 1989, spilling 600 metric tones of fuel into Antarctica’s pristine waters (Culver 1991). Other environmental impacts include engine emissions that contribute to air pollution. The noise generated from outboard motors on inflatable zodiacs, turbulence created from tourist ships and the â€Å"grey water† sewage they emit also creates harmful effects. More responsibility is being demanded out of eco tourists visiting Antarctica. For example Salen Lindblad’s 164-passenger ship the Frontier Spirit has been reinforced, and also contains a sewage treatment plant, refrigerated waste storage area, and a special storage area for non-biodegradable waste (Cebellos-Lascurain 1996). Another main concern is in the peninsula region of Antarctica where there are several highly concentrated, high profile sites. The concentration of tourism activities leads to the potential for over visitation in these areas. A present study of Magellanic penguins demonstrates that human impact puts a great amount of stress on the species. Simple human presence can be physiologically stressful for breeding at nest sites (Fowler 1999). The Antarctic environment is very fragile and not used to human activities. However the study also found that birds exposed to high levels of tourists are not effected over time and concludes that as a result tourism should be concentrated to certain areas while others are kept off limits to human presence. People have been going to Antarctica for over 100 years. Prior to 1950, nearly all trips to Antarctica were either exploratory or scientific expeditions (Cessford 1997). As a result of human activity in the area there has been a connection with industrial, national and scientific programs. Human activity has also caused the development of alien microbes, fungi, plants, and animals. These â€Å"alien† species that are mostly European in origin exist on most of the sub – Antarctic islands and some even occur on the continent itself. These species in turn can have both a direct and indirect impact on the Antarctic ecosystem (Fenot 2004). It has only been recently that biologists have conducted any research into diseases of Antarctic wildlife to note the effects of human activity. These studies look at marine mammals and penguins for bacteria flora and pathogens (disease causing organisms). Blood tests for antibodies of a variety of species have also been taken to check for viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic disease. A study conducted in the summer season of 2000/2001, Dr. Todhunter and Dr. Terris took swab collections of specimens from passengers’ boots aboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov, which led to tentative findings of a wide range of potential pathogens. In another study 233 fecal samples from 8 bird species were taken from 6 different penguin colonies, which are regularly visited by tourists. The samples were investigated for pathogens of potential human origin. No human related bacteria were found, which suggests that the tourism industry in the Antarctic region has achieved its goal of not introducing any pathogens so far. While the tourist season only ranges from October to April, currently tourism in Antarctica involves over 30 agencies, and 40,000 tourists per annum (Lambert 2005). Antarctica is the ultimate destination for anyone interested in natural history, but it also challenges the same people that visit to think about our responsibilities to all life on earth† (Lambert 2005). Tourists to Antarctica are most likely to fall in to the category of eco tourist, as there are no restaurants, theaters or art galleries, and the experience is about learning about and viewing one of the earth’s last untouched continent s. Boo (1990) states that for conservation management to succeed, tourism must be a tool to educate thus creating real benefits for a geological location. Although tourism and human contact on Antarctica is showing some negative impacts, it has also encouraged conservation efforts in the region. Another step towards the recognition of potential environmental impact is the creation of the IATTO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators). In 1991 seven tour operators active in Antarctica formed IATTO. It was created to act as a single organization. The goal of IATTO is to promote and practice safe environmentally responsible private-sector travel to the Antarctic. Currently there are 80 member organizations representing 14 countries. IATTO 2008) This environmental protocol designates Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science and seeks to ensure human activities, such as tourism, have no adverse effects on the Antarctic environment, or on its scientific and aesthetic values. With a recent increase in the number of members in the IAATO it shows that companies are becoming more aware of the environmentally se nsitive concerns related to Antarctica and the importance of such an organization. The increase in membership does not necessarily mean that there has been a drastic increase in the number of tourists visiting Antarctica. All current Antarctica tour operators file yearly environmental impact assessments to their national authorities. There are few places on earth that have never been to war, where the environment is fully protected and scientific research has priority over anything else. (IAATO 2008) The Antarctic treaty can be accredited with the successful protection of Antarctica. Formed on June 23, 1961 the treaty covers the area south of 60 degrees latitude and consists of 46 countries. Its objectives are simple and unique, demilitarize Antarctica and make it a zone free of nuclear tests, and disposal of radioactive waste. As well as be used for peaceful purposes only (IAATO 2008). To promote international cooperation in the Antarctic and set aside disputes over territorial sovereignty. The treaty parties meet each year and have adopted over 300 recommendations and negotiated separate international agreements, of which 3 are still in use. These include: 1. The convention for the conservation of Antarctic seals which was established in 1972. 2. The convention for conservation of Antarctica marine living resources established in 1980. 3. The protocol on Environmental protection to the Atlantic Treaty established in 1991. These agreements and the original treaty provide the rules to govern all activities in relation to Antarctica. Collectively known as the Antarctica Treaty System (ATS). In conclusion it is apparent that Antarctica is a very fragile environment, and any kind of human involvement can pose great risks if the correct precautions are not taken. It is clear to me that eco tourism can benefit the great continent of Antarctica, those visiting become ambassadors as they learn about the importance of preservation. Boo (1990) explains that tourists become emotionally attached to an area and will contribute funds to preserve it. It is important for organizations like the IAATO to continue their promotion of safe and environmentally responsible travel to the Antarctic. Continued research is necessary to make sure that tourists as well as scientists leave as little of a human footprint as possible. Antarctica is a beautiful place on earth, and I believe that when people are educated about their impact on such a vulnerable area and regulations are put in place to protect the area that everyone should be able to experience the Antarctic continent in all of its magnificence.

The Mother

Gwendolyn Brooks' poem, â€Å"The Mother† is an introspective look into the internal struggle of a woman who has had an abortion. The poem is very powerful and conveys a vast array of feelings and sentiments on the subject such as regret, love, and disappointment in one's self. The poem is largely successful due to it's tone, which is achieved through the personification and choice of diction. To begin with, lines one and two state the general idea of the poem. Abortions will not let you forget. You remember the children you got that you did not get. The first stanza of the poem begins with the introduction to the mother and her plight. The first line introduces plainly the topic of the poem. Abortion, although discussed and debated daily, is considered to be a very personal and often private experience in one's life. The second line confirms that this is a personal account of the â€Å"Mother. † The personification gives one more reason to feel empathy for the woman who is telling her story via the poem. Titling the work mother is an interesting tactic, as the topic of the poem is abortion. Perhaps this was done in order to create a tension and sadness between the mother and the abortions she is speaking of. There is also a great use of the word â€Å"you. † Brooks is writing to those who have had abortions or will have abortions and the things they must deal with. From this point Brooks writes of the joys and struggles of motherhood that the woman will never experience. For example â€Å"You will never neglect or beat them, or silence or buy with a sweet† (Brooks 6,7). In this segment Brooks uses enjambment to push the idea that there is no longer a â€Å"them. The action of thumb sucking, which most children experience, is referenced in a longing way. The mother feels sadness knowing she will never correct the action. In the line, † The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair, The singers and workers that never handled the air. † Brooks gives a strong image of the pre-baby form versus the adult form the child would have later in life. This is an interesting tactic, as it contrasts an inhuman and human form. Often fetuses are not referred to as â€Å"living† beings, and Brooks is bringing light to that conversation. The first stanza references so many actions that many mothers find mundane, but the mother who has never experienced them, treats them as treasured and severely missed moments. The second stanza focuses on the pain and loss of the woman. Brooks writes, â€Å"I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children. † This is the first line to break the rhyme scheme within the poem. The mother character feels haunted by the silent cries of the multiple abortions she has had. Once again Brooks writes of the acts she will never witness, such as marriages, aches, and first breaths. From the perspective of mother, the reader witnesses the ache of regret. In the lines, I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized Your luck† there is an interesting idea planted. The word â€Å"If† implies a question in the mother. Perhaps the mother made her decision but society has made her feel the guilt? Although this idea seems largely discounted in the following stanza. In line â€Å"Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate. † We are given a taste of the state of mind the mother possessed when she had her abortion. What is being said is that although abortion was the result, it was done with best intentions. The reader is left to infer that perhaps the woman could not have provided, or might have been cast out, or any possibility that would have abortion be the prevailing answer. The following lines, â€Å"Though why should I whine, Whine that the crime was other than mine? –† tell us that the woman equates her behavior with murder. This poem does not read specifically pro-life or pro-choice, rather, it reads as sympathetic towards the hard decisions that the mother has made and her reflections on whether it was the best decision for her. Another example of the mother's reflection is found within lines 28-31. Brooks writes, â€Å"Since anyhow you are dead. Or rather, or instead, You were never made. † In these lines the reader is confronted with the question, â€Å"When does life begin? † The mother in the poem seems to struggle with this idea. She attaches human feelings and behavior to the unborn, but in the poem often questions their viability. In the last stanza, Brooks leaves us with the sobering lines, â€Å"Believe me, I loved you all. Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you, All. These lines clear up any confusion as to what the mother feels towards the unborn fetuses. Although she never knew them, and it was her decision not to have them, she still feels the emotional attachment that any mother might. These lines answer the question as to why the woman is referred to as mother. THe woman possesses the maternal sense of unconditional love that she has felt for the fetuses, referred and her longing to be with them. There is a strong power in the use of ending on the word, â€Å"All. † Although the mother has had multiple abortions, she equates it with the same longing and regret as just one.

Famous African Americans of the 20th Century

Factors That Affect Customer Choice Of A Bank Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3470 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Introduction of banks: For the past three decades Indias banking system has several outstanding achievements to its credit. The most striking is its extensive reach. It is no longer confined to only metropolitans or cosmopolitans in India. In fact, Indian banking system has reached even to the remote corners of the country. This is one of the main reason of Indias growth process. The governments regular policy for Indian bank since 1969 has paid rich dividends with the nationalisation of 14 major private banks of India. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Factors That Affect Customer Choice Of A Bank Finance Essay" essay for you Create order Not long ago, an account holder had to wait for hours at the bank counters for getting a draft or for withdrawing his own money. Today, he has a choice. Gone are days when the most efficient bank transferred money from one branch to other in two days. Now it is simple as instant messaging or dial a pizza. Money have become the order of the day. The first bank in India, though conservative, was established in 1786. From 1786 till today, the journey of Indian Banking System can be segregated into three distinct phases. They are as mentioned below: Early phase from 1786 to 1969 of Indian Banks Nationalisation of Indian Banks and up to 1991 prior to Indian banking sector Reforms. New phase of Indian Banking System with the advent of Indian Financial Banking Sector Reforms after 1991. To make this write-up more explanatory, I prefix the scenario as Phase I, Phase II and Phase III. Phase I The General Bank of India was set up in the year 1786. Next came Bank of Hindustan and Bengal Bank. The East India Company established Bank of Bengal (1809), Bank of Bombay (1840) and Bank of Madras (1843) as independent units and called it Presidency Banks. These three banks were amalgamated in 1920 and Imperial Bank of India was established which started as private shareholders banks, mostly Europeans shareholders. In 1865 Allahabad Bank was established and first time exclusively by Indians, Punjab National Bank Ltd. was set up in 1894 with headquarters at Lahore. Between 1906 and 1913, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, and Bank of Mysore were set up. Reserve Bank of India came in 1935. During the first phase the growth was very slow and banks also experienced periodic failures between 1913 and 1948. There were approximately 1100 banks, mostly small. To streamline the functioning and activities of commercial banks, the Government of India came up with The Banking Companies Act, 1949 which was later changed to Banking Regulation Act 1949 as per amending Act of 1965 (Act No. 23 of 1965). Reserve Bank of India was vested with extensive powers for the supervision of banking in india as the Central Banking Authority. During those days public has lesser confidence in the banks. As an aftermath deposit mobilisation was slow. Abreast of it the savings bank facility provided by the Postal department was comparatively safer. Moreover, funds were largely given to traders. Phase II Government took major steps in this Indian Banking Sector Reform after independence. In 1955, it nationalised Imperial Bank of India with extensive banking facilities on a large scale specially in rural and semi-urban areas. It formed State Bank of india to act as the principal agent of RBI and to handle banking transactions of the Union and State Governments all over the country. Seven banks forming subsidiary of State Bank of India was nationalised in 1960 on 19th July, 1969, major process of nationalisation was carried out. It was the effort of the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. 14 major commercial banks in the country was nationalised. Second phase of nationalisation Indian Banking Sector Reform was carried out in 1980 with seven more banks. This step brought 80% of the banking segment in India under Government ownership. The following are the steps taken by the Government of India to Regulate Banking Institutions in the Country: 1949 : Enactment of Banking Regulation Act. 1955 : Nationalisation of State Bank of India. 1959 : Nationalisation of SBI subsidiaries. 1961 : Insurance cover extended to deposits. 1969 : Nationalisation of 14 major banks. 1971 : Creation of credit guarantee corporation. 1975 : Creation of regional rural banks. 1980 : Nationalisation of seven banks with deposits over 200 crore. After the nationalisation of banks, the branches of the public sector bank India rose to approximately 800% in deposits and advances took a huge jump by 11,000%. Banking in the sunshine of Government ownership gave the public implicit faith and immense confidence about the sustainability of these institutions. Phase III This phase has introduced many more products and facilities in the banking sector in its reforms measure. In 1991, under the chairmanship of M Narasimham, a committee was set up by his name which worked for the liberalisation of banking practices. The country is flooded with foreign banks and their ATM stations. Efforts are being put to give a satisfactory service to customers. Phone banking and net banking is introduced. The entire system became more convenient and swift. Time is given more importance than money. The financial system of India has shown a great deal of resilience. It is sheltered from any crisis triggered by any external macroeconomics shock as other East Asian Countries suffered. This is all due to a flexible exchange rate regime, the foreign reserves are high, the capital account is not yet fully convertible, and banks and their customers have limited foreign exchange exposure. History of financial services In the United States The term financial services became more prevalent in the United States partly as a result of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of the late 1990s, which enabled different types of companies operating in the U.S. financial services industry at that time to merge. Companies usually have two distinct approaches to this new type of business. One approach would be a bank which simply buys an insurance company or an investment bank, keeps the original brands of the acquired firm, and adds the acquisition to its holding company simply to diversify its earnings. Outside the U.S. (e.g., in Japan), non-financial services companies are permitted within the holding company. In this scenario, each company still looks independent, and has its own customers, etc. In the other style, a bank would simply create its own brokerage division or insurance division and attempt to sell those products to its own existing customers, with incentives for combining all things with one company. Banks A commercial bank is what is commonly referred to as simply a bank. The term commercial is used to distinguish it from an investment bank, a type of financial services entity which, instead of lending money directly to a business, helps businesses raise money from other firms in the form of bonds (debt) or stock (equity). Banking services The primary operations of banks include: Keeping money safe while also allowing withdrawals when needed Issuance of checkbooks so that bills can be paid and other kinds of payments can be delivered by post Provide personal loans, commercial loans, and mortgage loans (typically loans to purchase a home, property or business) Issuance of credit cards and processing of credit card transactions and billing Issuance of debit cards for use as a substitute for checks Allow financial transactions at branches or by using Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) Provide wire transfers of funds and Electronic fund transfers between banks Facilitation of standing orders and direct debits, so payments for bills can be made automatically Provide overdraft agreements for the temporary advancement of the Banks own money to meet monthly spending commitments of a customer in their current account. Provide Charge card advances of the Banks own money for customers wishing to settle credit advances monthly. Provide a check guaranteed by the Bank itself and prepaid by the customer, such as a cashiers check or certified check. Notary service for financial and other documents Other types of bank services Private banking Private banks provide banking services exclusively to high net worth individuals. Many financial services firms require a person or family to have a certain minimum net worth to qualify for private banking services. Private banks often provide more personal services, such as wealth management and tax planning, than normal retail banks. Capital market bank bank that underwrite debt and equity, assist company deals (advisory services, underwriting and advisory fees), and restructure debt into structured finance products. Bank cards include both credit cards and debit cards. Bank Of America is the largest issuer of bank cards. Credit card machine services and networks Companies which provide credit card machine and payment networks call themselves merchant card providers. Foreign exchange services Foreign exchange services are provided by many banks around the world. Foreign exchange services include: Currency Exchange where clients can purchase and sell foreign currency banknotes. Wire transfer where clients can send funds to international banks abroad. Foreign Currency Banking banking transactions are done in foreign currency. Investment services Asset management the term usually given to describe companies which run collective investment funds. Hedge fund management Hedge funds often employ the services of prime brokerage divisions at major investment banks to execute their trades. Custody services the safe-keeping and processing of the worlds securities trades and servicing the associated portfolios. Assets under custody in the world are approximately $100 trillion. Insurance Insurance brokerage Insurance brokers shop for insurance (generally corporate property and casualty insurance) on behalf of customers. Recently a number of websites have been created to give consumers basic price comparisons for services such as insurance, causing controversy within the industry. Insurance underwriting Personal lines insurance underwriters actually underwrite insurance for individuals, a service still offered primarily through agents, insurance brokers, and stock brokers. Underwriters may also offer similar commercial lines of coverage for businesses. Activities include insurance and annuities, life insurance, retirement insurance, health insurance, and property casualty insurance. Reinsurance Reinsurance is insurance sold to insurers themselves, to protect them from catastrophic losses. Other financial services Intermediation or advisory services These services involve stock brokers (private client services) and discount brokers. Stock brokers assist investors in buying or selling shares. Primarily internet-based companies are often referred to as discount brokerages, although many now have branch offices to assist clients. These brokerages primarily target individual investors. Full service and private client firms primarily assist and execute trades for clients with large amounts of capital to invest, such as large companies, wealthy individuals, and investment management funds. Private equity Private equity funds are typically closed-end funds, which usually take controlling equity stakes in businesses that are either private, or taken private once acquired. Private equity funds often use leveraged buyouts (LBOs) to acquire the firms in which they invest. The most successful private equity funds can generate returns significantly higher than provided by the equity markets Venture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided by professional, outside investors to new, high-potential-growth companies in the interest of taking the company to an IPO or trade sale of the business. Angel investment An angel investor or angel (known as a business angel or informal investor in Europe), is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A small but increasing number of angel investors organize themselves into angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool their investment capital. Conglomerates A financial services conglomerate is a financial services firm that is active in more than one sector of the financial services market e.g. life insurance, general insurance, health insurance, asset management, retail banking, wholesale banking, investment banking, etc. A key rationale for the existence of such businesses is the existence of diversification benefits that are present when different types of businesses are aggregated i.e. bad things dont always happen at the same time. As a consequence, economic capital for a conglomerate is usually substantially less than economic capital is for the sum of its parts. OVERVIEW OF BANKS: All over the world, there is a shift in the economy from the manufacturing to the service sector. The contribution of banking to the service economy is duly recognized. Banking industry includes a number of businesses such as corporate banking, investment banking, wealth management, capital market etc. Retail banking is another segment of the banking industry. It is a typical mass-market banking characterized by a large customer base and a large volume of transactions. There is a high level of cooperation between banks, retailers, customers and consumers in this segment. Retail banks offer services like account opening, credit card, debit card, ATM, internet banking, phone banking, insurance, investment, stock broking and so on. The retail banking industry is facing a very stiff competition and current scenario is that of the survival of the fittest. All the banks are trying to increase their customer base and are developing their own strategies to be in the market. Product differentiation along with the application of technology for creating an optimum transaction model is one of the strategies employed by retail banks. The present day customers are technology savvy and they are more exposed to various kinds of goods and services. With globalization, the consumers are more aware of what type of services they get and from where. This has led to customer-demand-driven services to be offered by various service providers. Retail banks too have to design their products in such a way that customers are satisfied and that they return to the same bank for their services. In simple terms, customer retention is becoming the greatest challenge for retail banks. But the most challenges for banks is how banks attract their customers and what factor affect customer choice of a bank:ÂÂ   The various factors that affect the choice of customer in choosing a bank namely: ATM facility, Friendliness of employee, Debit card facility, Loan facility, Parking facility, Speed of services, Loyalty program, Internet banking facility, Rate of Interest, Bank timing, Convenient display of counters, Free home delivery of Drafts, Phone banking facility, Minimum account balance, Bank charges, Overdraft facility, Brand name, Close to where you live or work, Security arrangement, Locker facility, De-mat Facility, Referral from friend and relatives, Computerization of the bank, Continuous flow of information from bank and Simple application for all transactions. There are many other factors that affect the choice of customers in choosing the banks. The 14 different factors that could be identified, approximately in the order of their importance, are (1) Safety of Deposits, (2) Size and Strength, (3) Accuracy, (4) General Service Quality, (5) Speed of Delivery, (6) Proximity, (7) Security of Environment, (8) Cordiality of Staff, (9) Price and Service Charges, (10) Product Packaging, (11) General Public Impression, (12) Peer Group Impression, (13) Friendship with Staff and (14) Advertisement and Publicity. There are many factors who affect customer choice of bank. There are no of other factors also affect the customer choice of a bank which have also increased in importance are the offering of incentives, having a wide product range and economic factors, such as interest rate paid and fees and charges levied. Location factors, such as choosing a bank close to home or work place, have decreased significantly in importance in motivating choice. Certain criteria have remained broadly constant through time, amongst them, and perhaps surprisingly, are choosing on the basis of a banks image and reputation and expectations about level of service. Safety of Deposits: Depositors are the major stakeholders of the Banking System. Firstly a customer when he think about to open account in any bank then first question come in his mind is safety of deposits. His cash save or not in that bank in which he keep the amount. Reliability: It is the most vital factor, which explains of the variation. Reliability factors such as employees in the bank are friendly and courteous .Parking facility, Loyalty Program, good brand name of the bank, security arrangement with the bank and low bank has low bank charges emerge with good positive correlations. This yields a great influence while choosing a banking service. Convenience: There are four loads to this factor. The factor Convenience is the second important factor, which accounts for nearly of the variations. The factors parking facility with the bank free delivery of demand draft Phone banking and free home cash delivery signifies that consumers want convenience in banking and they want to save time. Assurance: There are three significant variables with a variation of and these factors are speedy services bank provide good rate of interest zero balance account facility depicts that the students want assurance of the services from the bank. Value Added Services: This factor has the two significant variables, which has 7.36% of the variation, and this comprises of depicting the value added services required by the consumers. The factor representing debit card facility, loan facility and loyalty programs respectively show value added services are also a significant factor in choosing a bank. Accessibility: The next important factor, which comprises of four loadings, ATM facility, debit card facility speed in services and internet banking signifies that easy accessibility to their bank accounts is vital factor in choosing a bank. Responsiveness: Responsiveness is the next factor, which influences a consumer in choosing a bank. This factor has two loading namely the employees in the bank are friendly and courteous and convenient display of counters. Location: when choosing a location for a branch, each bank takes various factors into account, such as the level of income, branch functions, competition, land value, growth potential, and the number of financial institutions. Also, from the methodological perspective, each bank employs. and develops various mathematical models or continuously strives to apply new methods. The recent introduction of Geographic Information System (GIS) can be viewed as an extension of such trend. Bank image: The customers were found to form an image of a bank from various information sources, and such formed image had a significant influence on the profitability of the bank. Branch image, level of service, value of products, and the building should be considered in the evaluation of a banks profitability. Quality: customer perceptions and preferences of service quality have a Significant impact on a banks success Service quality has received much attention because of its obvious relationship with costs, financial performance, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. Acceptability: The point of acceptance in case of cheques, RTGS, NEFT and ECS would be the bank branches providing these facilities. While cheques are accepted at all bank branches in the country, extending the availability of NEFT and RTGS depend upon the technological level of the banks. While the reach of payment systems like RTGS and NEFT has expanded to cover more and more bank branches, their further expansion is limited by the presence of bank branches. Level of Technology: The level of technological adoption in the banks would also decide the level of promotion of new payment products by banks. Banks which have implemented Core Banking Solutions are observed have provided the customers multiple delivery channels like ATMs, internet banking and mobile banking systems for initiation and receipt of payments. Substantial usage of new payment instruments are observed in these banks. These banks have also recorded cost savings from the migration of payments to electronic modes from the traditional cash and cheques. Customer Service: The customer service is the main stepping-stone of any service industry. The payment systems are no exception to this. Customer services include (1) service level at the point of service (2) information dissemination and (3) grievance redressal. For gaining the confidence of a customer it is necessary that the service providers address these issues adequately. Service Charges: Services charge constitute the charge levied by banks on their customers who avail payment services. Since 1999, when the practice of Indian Banks Association (IBA) fixing the benchmark service charges (which IBA had started prescribing from 1994) on behalf of the member banks was discontinued, the decision to prescribe the service charges was left to the discrete on of the Boards of individual banks. Banks were then advised that, they should ensure that the service charges were reasonable and were not out of line with the average cost of providing the services and the customers with low volume of activities were not penalized. Presently the Reserve Bank has prescribed the levying of service charges only for cheque clearing operations. An amount of Rs.2/- is collected per paper instrument (Re.1/- each to be collected from the collecting and paying bank) cleared by the MICR Cheque Processing Centers. In case the paper instruments are processed manually, the clearing houses are required to add up all the expenditure incurred and then recover them from the members (banks) of the respective clearing houses. The levying of cheque collection and electronic payment processing charges by banks from customers is left to the respective banks. But it was observed that instead of prescribing judicious charges a number of banks levy heavy fees for the use of electronic payment systems like RTGS / NEFT/ ECS systems.

Personal Narrative A Year Passes Essay - 1734 Words

A year passes. There comes July, my vacation time. As usual, I go home, to Odessa. To see my family, to jump into the warm waves of the Black Sea, to catch up with my old, both high-school and college, friends. This time, I decide not to fly home but take a train. I need time to collect my thoughts. It’s a thousand miles journey; it’ll takes full twenty four hours. But I’m hardly going to be bored. There s a lot on my plate to mull over. I need time to be mentally prepared to face my loved ones now when I’ve ventured on a new path in my life. During my stay, especially challenging is going to be the end of July. ÐÅ"ama will throw a birthday party for my cousin Eva, and I’ll be facing all members of our extending family. From the day her younger sister, Clara, died a few years ago, my mother has taken care of her niece, as if she were her own dear daughter. To celebrate Eva’s day, as usual, besides Big Abram, Eva’s father, and Littl e Abram, mama’s brother with his wife and children, she’ll invite every other of our relatives residing in Odessa. And, of course, my father’s friend Marshak, who usually comes with his wife and his son Mark, a teenager†¦ Our living room, which at night turns into my parents’ bedroom, is going to be packed with the guests. They all will take seats around the expanded dinner table, to which mama will also attach our kitchen table. Since we don’t have enough chairs for everybody, from a small lumber-room, which Papa with UncleShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Oliver Sackss The Lost Mariner732 Words   |  3 Pages[his] disease’† (36). Through â€Å"The Lost Mariner†, Sacks depicts personal narrative as a necessity for a complete existence. The portion of his life that Jimmie can recall is full and satisfying; he became a submarine’s assistant radio operator when he was drafted in 1943 and was engaged to a woman (Sacks, 23). Jimmie, however, cannot remember anything after the age of nineteen; in a figurative sense, his life ends at this age in the year 1945. As a result, he does not even â€Å"feel alive†; he does notRead MoreNarrative Is The Representation Of An Event Or Series Of Events1637 Words   |  7 PagesPlainly, a narrative is â€Å"the representation of an event or series of events.† However, questionably, a first person narrative holds far more significance as it acts as a personal mechanism that is used to define oneself. This may be referred to as a ‘self-narrative,’ Ibarra, H. and Barbulescu, R. 2010 refer to this to describe a story that is informative of the speaker. It is human nature to create narratives that represent ourselves and where we stand in society. These constructions allow us toRead MoreStream of Consciousness Novel1102 Words   |  5 Pagesapplied in literary criticism to designate a particular mode of prose narrative was first coined by philosopher William James in his book Principles of Psychology (1890) to describe the uninterrupted flow of perceptions, memories and thoughts in active human psyche. As a literary term, however, it denotes a certain narrative technique used in novels in which the narrator records in minute but somewhat abstract way whatever passes through his or her conscious mind. The socalled ‘stream of consciousness’Read MoreAn Analysis Of The Boat By Alistair Macleod1343 Words   |  6 Pageswith the expectation he will continue the family tradition as a fisherman. At the beginning of the story, he describes how his family is centered around the fishing business and the family boat, which dominated virtually every aspect of the early years of his life. Even his mother and sisters activities at home are tasks that would help his father at sea. After his first excursion with his father on the boat, his family is very excited, with the narrator commenting that â€Å"They repeated ‘the boat’Read MoreThe History Of The Peloponnesian War951 Words   |  4 PagesThucydides in 431 B.C.E and translated by Richard Crawley expressively illustrates the plague of Athens and its impact on the population. The work provides a vivid account as to the amount of suffering and disorder consuming the Athenians during the second year of the Peloponnesian war. Furthermore, Thucydides wrote the piece in hopes of broadening the scope of current events at the time which affected the citizens. Additionally, he sought to inform future generations of the plague so that they could recognizeRead More Intent and Motive in The Devil and Tom Walker and The Devil and Daniel Webster1564 Words   |  7 Pagesthe deal. In these two different, yet surprisingly similar narratives, the authors pr esent their beliefs about human intent and motive. In The Devil and Tom Walker, the story is seen of a stingy man and his nagging wife who ...were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other (128). In the story, one sees a man make a deal with the devil, who in the story is known as Old Scratch, for the sole purpose of personal gain. Tom Walker, seeing only the possible wealth that he couldRead MoreNotes On The Land Bears The Mark Of The Human History1657 Words   |  7 PagesOverview We are the stories that we tell. We shape our narratives of the past to represent who we feel we are, selecting aspects to highlight and others to forget based on how we wish to represent ourselves and the meaning we apply to particular events. Simultaneous to that process, the stories passed down through the generations, the stories that define a collective people, and repetition of the stories we each tell in our daily lives, shape individuals and their construction of self and createRead MoreCree Poetic Discourse By Neal Mcleod1640 Words   |  7 Pageswestern academic writing approach harms the indigenous Cree narratives. According to McLeod, the Cree narrative process, which involves poetic thinking, embraces new possibilities and keeps changing (9). This evolution process not only depends on various occasions of speaking but also depends on different storytellers and audiences who absorb stories, thus allowing Cree poetic discourse to possess dynamic feature (McLeod 9). Such dynamic narrative approach compresses space, like Neal McLeod, said, â€Å"LikeRead MoreObasan and Poh-Poh Essay1466 Words   |  6 Pagesgreat wisdom. Ayako Nakane, also known as Obasan, the title character of Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, and the character Poh-Poh in Wayson Choy’s novel The Jade Peony, are very similar in this regard. Both Obasan and Poh-Poh drive forwards their respective narratives with their strong personalities. They have each suffered through troublesome pasts and as a result have become very wise. Obasan and Poh-Poh share many similarities but they also have their differences. Both women are very compassionate and do notRead MoreThe Byzantine Empire897 Words   |  4 PagesThe Byzantine Empire was a primarily Christian empire whose reign started in 330 A.D and ended in 1453 A.D with the capturing of the its capital Constantinople by the Muslim Sultan Mehmed II. In the years following the fall of the Byzantines, many of the Christian basilicas were t ransformed into mosques for Islamic worship, inspiring many artists to create works that embodied their religious politics. One of the pieces created following the fall of the Byzantine Empire is Yusuf Fleeing Zulayhka,

Individualized Physical Activity Intervention

Question: Discuss about the Individualized Physical Activity Intervention. Answer: Introduction: Randomization of treatments- In randomized controlled trial, participants are assigned to a treatment conditions at random and the unique factor is the type of intervention they receive. Moyle et al. (2014, pp.856-864) also conducted the research by randomization. Participants were randomized by a computer program to hide the allocation detail of participants. On that basis, the intervention groups received 10 min of foot massage and the control group received quiet presence. In RCT, the process are controlled to ensure that participants receive the same treatment unique to their group and same was observed in this study as block randomization was done to maximize the equality of the intervention and the control groups (Bothwell Podolsky 2016, pp.501-504). Accountability of patients- Moyle et al. (2014, pp.856-864) had analyzed the data collected from participants who received at least one treatment. 2-tailed test help to determine whether the impact of group was high in mood and agitation in dementia patient was higher in the control group or the intervention group. Detail about group- While conducting RCT studies, baseline imbalance often arise. Hence, it is necessary for the researcher to ensure that both intervention and control groups are equal at baseline. This means factors such as age, sex, class, education and fitness in both groups should not have an effect on the outcome (Singh et al. 2017). Moyle et al. (2014, pp.856-864) maintained the baseline balance in participants by means of recruiting participant on the basis of inclusion criteria. This included participant above the age of 65 years with moderate to last stage of dementia. They must be living in long term care, should have a history of agitation and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) should be less than 18. This inclusion strategy enhances the credibility of the study as participants particularly with agitation symptoms were selected for the trial. It would help greatly in generalization of the study. Treatment of groups- Treatment of groups equally in RCTs implies whether researcher has addressed the factors that might influence the performance of one group over the other. The review of the article reveals Moyle et al. (2014, pp.856-864) has considered this aspect during the sample recruitment stage. This is reflected by the exclusion process. Participant who had serious illness that might affect the foot anatomy and pain were not taken. If such participant would have been taken, the purpose of the study would not have been effectively fulfilled. During the intervention process also, the timing of intervention was considered important as dementia patients mainly develop restlessness in the afternoon. Hence, with this consideration, afternoon time was chosen for providing the intervention (Spector et al. 2016, pp.1055-1062). Effect of treatment- The reliability and credibility of a research study is understood by the treatment of outcomes and comparison of groups to develop a mean outcome. This reflect the rigour of research and the focus of the researcher to make the results reliable (Altman, D.G., 2015). In case of RCT trial for comparing impact of foot massage and quiet place on dementia patient, outcome measures of patient was assessed by means of Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) Short Form and the Observed Emotion Rating Scale (OERS). The first was used to assess agitation and the latter was used to assess moods in both group post-intervention. No baseline imbalance was also observed as both CMAI and OERS had no difference at baseline between both groups. The mean and standard deviation of change score was developed by means of one-way ANOVAs (Moyle et al. 2014, pp.856-864). Estimate of treatment effect- The review of the results of the RCT study depicts no difference in group in baseline in terms of factors of age, gender, time and medications. The study findings revealed mean total CMAI increase in both groups but increase in verbal aggression was more in quiet presence (control) group. There was large observed variability between the groups which indicates that the there might be certain uncertainty which may have an impact on the accuracy of the result (Moyle et al. 2014, pp.856-864). However, still the result is reliable because variations were seen in acceptability of massage due to individual variation and not by the difference in tolerating the intervention. The treatment of intervention (foot massage) in the RCT trial finally proved that it cannot be utilized as a non-pharmacological intervention for dementia patients because foot massage die not lead to a long-term improvement in agitation and mood of patients (Schmidt Hunter 2014). Application of results- The RCT trial on dementia patient was considered important because over 90% of them experience behavioral and psychological symptoms of aggression, anxiety and depression during the progression of the disease. These symptoms increase the suffering of not just the patient but also their family members. Moyle et al. (2014, pp.856-864) wanted to analyze the efficacy of foot massage as an intervention for reducing mood disorder because of high prevalence of side-effects in anti-psychotic medications. Hence, there is an increased attention to designing non-pharmacological intervention that leads to a relaxation response in patients. Foot massage was considered as a relaxing intervention for dementia patient by the researcher as it would lead to calming sensation by the production of oxytocin (Kapoor Orr 2017). The study fining showed little improvement in mood due to foot massage and it was inconsistent with other research findings. There is an indication of unfam iliar treatment staff that might have affected the result. However, reduction in alertness was seen in patients and this can contribute to future research when investigating mood in response to certain episodes of aggression (Moyle et al. 2014, pp.856-864). Therefore, this research article does not provide strong support regarding the benefit of foot massage as an intervention for dementia patient. However, more rigorous research into factors promoting relaxation in foot massage may lead to a positive application in dementia patient. Consideration of clinically important outcomes- The researcher has tried to maintain the rigour of the study by focusing on factors that might affect the result. For instance, there was no difference in baseline data of both groups. Other confounding variables were also considered such as timing of intervention to maximize the efficacy of the outcome. However, still the study has certain limitations. This includes the unfamiliarity of the participants with massage assistant and this might have had an impact on the outcome. Hence, if the researcher has paid attention to factors that enhance relaxation during the foot massage, the outcome would have been better. It can be clinically applied once the research approach is more rigorous to identify all relevant factors affecting results. Benefits of the trial- Despite certain limitations in the study, the benefits of the RCT study is the manner in which the case analysis was conducted. This reduced any kind of selection bias and helped in increasing the generalizability of the results. Though, complete benefit from foot massage was not seen, however still certain positive symptoms were observed in participants. For example, their alertness level decreased increasing the probability of relaxation during the intervention. The foot massage participants were less alert compared to the quiet presence participants groups. Hence, such symptoms will dementia patient to become calm while receiving the foot massage. In randomized controlled studies, treatment effect is determined by the primary and secondary outcome measures of the study. The review of the randomized controlled tust on impact of physical activity intervention on family care givers of dementia patient reflects ways to analyse the treatment effects. In this case, primary outcome measures include mental status of participant which was evaluated by means of mini mental state examination score and the standardized tool to measure perceived burden, depressive symptoms and positive effects (Farran et al. 2016). Hence, depending on different objectives of research, it would be interesting to know how researchers validate the treatment effect if variability in the study is high. The justification of the above question is given by considering lot of outcomes of the intervention in relation to its impact on the patient or caregiver selected for the study. For example, in a research study where the aim was to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in patients with bipolar disorder through Life Goals Collaborative Care (LGCC), the clinical importance of the outcome was determined by self management outcomes such as changes in blood pressure and changes in physical health related quality of life (Kilbourne et al. 2013). It would be necessary to research the other ways that can enhance the clinical reliability of the intervention studied in RCT. Reference Altman, DG 2015, Clinical trials: Subgroup analyses in randomized trials [mdash] more rigour needed,Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology,12(9), pp.506-507. Bothwell, LE Podolsky, SH 2016, The emergence of the randomized, controlled trial, New England Journal of Medicine,375(6), pp.501-504. Kapoor, Y Orr, R 2017, Effect of therapeutic massage on pain in patients with dementia,Dementia,16(1), pp.119-125. Karanicolas, PJ 2010, Practical tips for surgical research: blinding: who, what, when, why, how?, Canadian journal of surgery,53(5), p.345. Moyle, W Cooke, ML Beattie, E Shum, DH ODwyer, ST Barrett, S 2014, Foot massage versus quiet presence on agitation and mood in people with dementia: A randomised controlled trial, International journal of nursing studies,51(6), pp.856-864. Schmidt, FL Hunter, JE 2014, Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. Sage publications. Singh, S Sao, A Nagare, TB Dharmarajan, A 2017, Role of Social Media Marketing In Brand Building: The New Age Marketing Strategy, International Journal of Scientific Research,5(9). Spector, A Orrell, M Charlesworth, G Marston, L 2016, Factors influencing the personcarer relationship in people with anxiety and dementia Aging mental health,20(10), pp.1055-1062. Farran, CJ Paun, O Cothran, F Etkin, CD Rajan, KB Eisenstein, A Navaie, M 2016, Impact of an individualized physical activity intervention on improving mental health outcomes in family caregivers of persons with dementia: A randomized controlled trial, AIMS Medical Science,3, pp.15-31. Kilbourne, AM Goodrich, DE Lai, Z Post, EP Schumacher, K Nord, KM Bramlet, M.Chermack, S Bialy, D Bauer, MS 2013, Randomized controlled trial to reduce cardiovascular disease risk for patients with bipolar disorder: the self-management addressing heart risk trial (SMAHRT), The Journal of clinical psychiatry,74(7), p.e655.