Best Private Schools Offering Summer Experiences

Best Private Schools Offering Summer Experiences Many folks hear the words summer camp and think of living in cabins for a month, swimming in lakes, and participating all kinds of outdoor activities, like archery and ropes courses. Rarely does the phrase summer camp make someone think about an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming school year. ​ On the other hand, many folks hear the words summer school and  think of the stereotypical student who failed a class or needs more credits to graduate. Rarely does the phrase summer school make someone think of a positive summer camp-style experience. What if we told you theres a middle ground? A summer experience thats both fun and educational? Its real. And some of the best private schools in the country are offering students unique educational opportunities that are way more than just your typical classroom experience.   Lets look at a few of the  unexpected opportunities  that you might find at a private schools summer program. Travel the World Summer camp doesnt have to be  limited to only one campsite. Some schools offer summer travel experiences, taking students around the world to experience life away from home. Proctor Academy in New Hampshire offers a summer service opportunity, which takes students to places like Guatemala for two-week sessions. See the World From 30,000 Feet in the Air Thats right, aspiring aviators can attend a summer camp at Randolph-Macon School in Virginia. Students get the chance to participate in a highly specialized program  leading towards taking a solo flight in a Cessna 172.   Space Camp and Sustainability Sustainability is a popular topic at private schools  and is one that has led to several summer camp programs designed to educate students and get them thinking about how we can better serve the planet Earth. One such program exists at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, which offers two different tracks from which students can choose for their summer study. One track focuses on the impact of humans on the earth, while the other takes a new approach to a space camp by exploring both the oceans and space. You even get to take field trips and even launch rockets - and were not just talking about small model rockets!   Learn a New Language For students looking to come to the United States for a boarding school experience, a summer camp can be a great way to master their English language skills. ELL/ESL students can often greatly benefit from these highly specialized summer classes that are often several weeks long and designed to immerse students in an English language environment. This not only helps participants to master their speaking, reading, and writing skills, but also gives them a preview of what dorm life is like, making the adjustment to boarding school in the fall a little easier. Some schools even offer an accelerated program, like New Hampton School in New Hampshire.   Get a Competitive Edge in Athletics Aspiring athletes, especially those looking to improve their skills in order to play varsity sports at private school, can benefit from a summer camp focused on athletics. Starting to participate in these camps during middle school can be a great way for high school coaches to see a student athletes drive and potential, which means building relationships with the school even before the admission season arrives. Athletic camps are available for the more novice student-athletes, as well, helping those players still learning the game to prepare to play on a sports team at a  private school for the first time. Baylor School in Tennessee offers a camp that meets the needs of both the competitive athlete and the recreational athlete.   Perfect a Creative Craft Young artists can find numerous private schools that offer creative summer camp experiences, ranging from drama and dance to music and drawing. And, some of the best private school programs even offer creative writing and literary-focused programs, as well as digital photography and animation courses. The opportunities for creative expression are endless, and the levels of experience can vary. While some schools, like the Putney School in Vermont, offer a wide variety of workshops for artists of all experience levels and interests, other schools take a more specialized approach. The Idyllwild Arts Academy in California offers intensive two-week programs as part of the  Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. These programs can sometimes help students looking to attend competitive art schools for college get a head-start on art portfolios. Try Your Hand at a Non-Traditional Trade Some schools offer incredibly unique programs, like Emma Willards Rosies Girls camp. Drawing inspiration from the fictional character Rosie the Riveter, the boarding school in New York offers girls the chance to experience what its like to work in  carpentry, automotive repair, masonry, and other non-traditional trades.

Romero Essays - English-language Films, Films, Romero, Scar Romero

Romero Essays - English-language Films, Films, Romero, Scar Romero Romero Reflection of Romero When the movie starts off, you are introduced to only a portion of the injustice that the El Salvadorians faced. The new president was supposed to be one that was elected into office. It was unimaginable to me that citizens who were on their way to vote were stopped. They were only allowed to proceed by foot. There is no way that any such think could occur here, in the United States. Its hard for me to accept that things like that actually happened, and still happen. It was time to appoint a new archbishop. The other priests elected Romero thinking that he wouldnt make any waves. This shocked me. People would actually use as criteria for archbishop whether or not they would make waves. I would think that they would want the person in that position to be strong in their beliefs. It later turned out that Romero would unpleasantly surprise them. This movie also showed a very vivid line between the rich and the poor. It was hard to believe that they all lived in the same country. The wea lthy barely even treat the poor like people. They are merely pests that they avoid at all costs. I know that in America the gap between the very rich and the very poor is wide, but there is at least some form of middle class, and the poor have the same rights as everyone else. When the guerillas started to attack the people, in the square when the people were receiving communion for instance, Romero finally stood up. It is not really the place of the Church to take a political stand, but no one else in such a powerful position was standing up for the rights of the people being oppressed. Romero went to lengths beyond what anyone expected or hoped he would go to. Unfortunately, his heroism was not greeted very well, except by the people he was defending. It just amazed me how strong he was in what he believed. It takes such courage and wit to follow through with the things that he did. I cant even fathom how hard it was to walk into that prison and walk out with a prisoner. If he had been anyone but the Archbishop, he would have been killed. I think the part that made me realize his faith the most was when he walked into the church that had been taken by the army. He just walked right in past the big man holding the gun. He started to pick up the communion even while shots were being fired. And after he left, he came back and gave communion to the crowd. It was just so touching. The people believed in him as much as he believed in what he was doing. Ive never been faced with anything near as big as the struggle that the El Salvadorians were facing. To have to live in those conditions, and to have no one be able to protect you or fight for what you believe in. It is so unimaginable to me that they had virtually no rights. It made me so sad that at the end, Romero was assassinated. It was really no surprise. Anyone that stood up for what they believed in that was opposite of what the people in power were preaching was killed. Romero was the only person in power t o stand up. He was protected for a while because of his status, but it could not protect him forever. I know that struggles like this occur in America, but on a much smaller level that no one notices. I guess that makes it hard for me to conceive of something like this actually ever happening. It makes me so sad to realize that it really did.

Human Resources Administration In Education And Schools Essay

Human Resources Administration In Education And Schools - Essay Example Strategies that can be used to create and deliver effective staff development programStaff development is a training process viewed in two dimensions. It includes in-service training program where individuals in an organization given opportunities to further their education to enable them to prepare for future positions and training is aimed to prepare individuals to be able to handle new job assignments. Staff development connotes the organization’s efforts in its program to provide the need-based training and education to its workers to enable them to become competent in handling their present or future assigned tasks.Several strategies can be used to create an effective staff development program. There are two mostly use: on the job training and assistant to training. On the job training mostly happen on the job and this method is an effective method of training. It is easiest to organize and less costly. Employees get placed in the actual work situation that makes them pro ductive. They learn by doing the real work that is the best training method for jobs that are hard to simulate or can be learned quickly by performance. With assistant to training process, a trainee studies under a master worker for a given period or until a trainee acquire necessary skillsInitiation of an effective induction process is one way that the organization can contribute to personal assimilation, as well as to the personal development, security, and need the satisfaction of each member of the organization.

Personal Epiphany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Epiphany - Essay Example Since my destination was still an hour away, I did sit back to observe the station. To my astonishment, a group of children dressed in dirty clothes rushed into the train. Before I could realize what was happening, they started to do all sort of things – begging, singing, offering to polish the travellers’ shoes, cleaning the floor and selling knickknacks. I happened to notice a very small boy who stood out from the crowd. His grimy face camouflaged cherubic features. There were four of them in the group, but all the others dispersed as soon as I met them. I guessed they went to the other compartments, probably in search of other large-hearted people scattered in the train. The lady sitting next to me was complaining about the heat and how she failed to get a ticket in First Class A/C due to the pilgrim season. She also realized that the food served in the train was not something to her taste and was about to throw it away when the boy went near her and stretched his palm to her as his pain-filled eyes implored all those in the cabin. In a reflex action, she shoved the food packet to his hands and he went out of the train and stepped to the platform in a hurry. It seemed that he was just looking for some food and forgot the need to get something more before the train moved. As the train stayed in the station for five more minutes, I couldn’t help looking outside to see what the boy was up to. I saw him settle down near a pillar and open the packet hastily. I also saw how much he needed the food, from his slim frame and the anticipatory glee writ large on his face. At the exact moment he opened the packet, I saw an older girl like him, in tatters, approaching him and before he could do anything, she snatched the packet away from him and started to run through the platform making hysterical gestures. She laughed aloud and threw the food

Pricing Options using Binomial and Trinomial Methods

Pricing Options using Binomial and Trinomial Methods Published in the 1970s, the Black-Scholes-Merton model provided an entirely new definition for the financial option market, half a century later the Binomial tree option pricing model was published, and that is the true key that allows the option market to be generalized to the world. Based upon the Binomial model, the Trinomial option pricing model was built to reduce possible errors and persons thus expected it to be a better approach. Still how much better is the Trinomial model, and is it worth spending the time on calculations? These will be the key comparisons provided in this dissertation. The comparisons are based upon computer calculating time used, and approximation error. An illustrative example is used to build the data base for further comparison of the convergence speed of these two models. All the values are calculated using the Matlab program and Casio calculators in order to provide examples of the assumption that the Trinomial option pricing model is a better model in reducing the approximation error, but takes much longer than the Binomial tree model to get the results. Chapter 1 introduction The emergence of financial derivatives in the 1970s marked a highly significant and exciting event in the history of finance. Options trading began in the United States and European markets in the late eighteenth century, and over the last 20 years, options played a key role in all financial derivatives. The option price was an old question for the financial world. Back in the 1900s Louis Bachelier published his academic dissertation ThÃÆ' ©orie de la speculation (Theory of Speculation), which became known by the public as the milestone of modern finance. The random walk theory, which built a random model of the stock prices changing pattern and how it follows in the stock market, was first applied in his paper. In 1964, Paul Samuelson (Nobel Prize in Economic Science winner) revised L.Bacheliers model, and instead of the stock price he used stock returns to eliminate the negative figures which might occur in L.Bacheliers model. Based upon this new model P.Samuelson also studied the Call Option pricing problem, and built a pricing equation for it. Although the equation was quite a beauty to watch, it could not be used in real world dealings since two of the main factors depended upon the investors personal predilection. Futures and options are traded actively on many exchanges throughout the world. Before any certain systematization models of the option had been created it was impossible for people to evaluate any kind of option price in a common way. Any approximations of the price based traders personal experience would well likely result in mistakes. The only method to maximize the good of the option price would be to build a standard and systematization model and find the quantification of the option trading. This was an important event in the financial world at that time. Since the emergent of option trading, and especially of securities options trade, researchers have been busy in the studies of options pricing. In 1973, Fischer Black and Myron Scholes published The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities at the University of Chicago, where they presented the famous Black-Scholes model for options pricing (B-S model for short). They derived a partial differential equation, which governs the price of the option over time. Once it has been published, the B-S model received strong responses and gained a breakthrough in this field. While some researchers conducted thorough tests on the models accuracy, many others presented various opinions on the problems in the model and expanded on them for the purposes of improvement and extension. Because of this glary partial differential equation and all of the contribution that it had created, M.Scholes and R.Merton (F.Black was deceased) both won the Nobel Prize for Economics. In 1979, Cox, Ross and Rubinstein published a paper called Option Pricing: A Simplified Approach, and in a simple manner obtained the pricing formula using the Binomial model, which was applied widely. This is the event that really changed the option trading market because it made option trading more transparent to most traders, and advanced the improvement of the market. During the option, the trading market developed more and more different sorts of option models, with the most famous and widely used models being the European option and American option. As these two options were named, they were mainly applied in Europe and America and the main difference between the two options is when the option will be fulfilled (I will fully explain this at a later stage). The Binomial option pricing model is essentially a Binomial Tree which shows possible values that an underlying asset or stock initial stock price can take, and the resulting value of the option price at each individual stage of the asset. The main idea of the tree is constructed by assuming that the stock can only go up or down by a factor related to the length of time period, and volatility of the stock. Trinomial model was developed by Prelim Boyle in 1986; it is an adjusted and improved version of the Binomial Tree. Instead of assuming the stock can only go up or down, the Trinomial Tree allows a third choiceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ the stock remains constant. Compared to the Binomial and Trinomial tree model, the Black-Scholes model is a more mathematical and theoretical model: V = SN (d1) N (d2) (Will be explained at later stage) Although the binomial option pricing model and trinomial tree values converge on the Black-Scholes formula value as the number of time steps increases. With these two simplified methods the option pricing theory and option market became more generalized and easier for the public. With the time flows, the option market began to prevail all over the world, and therefore more and more specific different types of options were created to adapt to the disparate country. In this dissertation I will mainly study and present the relation and difference between the Black-Scholes model, the Binomial Option Pricing model and the Trinomial Tree model, in both a mathematical and financial way. Chapter 1: This chapter is mainly about the Black-Scholes models differential equation, including every valuable deduction I provide a few interesting examples to give a straight forward view of this method. Chapter 2: In this chapter I will explore the Binomial pricing model with European and American options. By presenting the formulas and equations I will study how to calculate the option price and explain some basic financial terms. At the main time I will also compare the results of the Binomial Tree model to the Black-Scholes model. Chapter 3: In this chapter I will demonstrate the Trinomial model with examples and large amount of figures by using the Matlab software. The European and American options will be compared with the Trinomial model. Chapter 4: In the last chapter in my dissertation I will look at how effectively the Trinomial tree model is improved based on the Binomial model. The Matlab code I wrote will help me process this comparison up to a million steps. This will be my thesis of this dissertation and this project. 1.1 Risk Many of the valuation and risk management principles apply across all financial options. In this section, I will first briefly introduce some basic concepts and features of risk management and financial derivatives, especially the option pricing problems. RiskUncertainty of the result The risks obtained and a persons unexpected profit is the same as bringing loss or even damage to a person. In the financial market, risk is ubiquitous with: asset risk (stock), currency risk (exchange rate): credit risk, and so on. There are two ways of facing the risks. Risk Avoidance Risk-taking The process of selecting investments with higher risk in order to profit from an anticipated price movement, is called speculation. Financial derivatives are types of risk management instruments whose payoff depends upon the behaviour of the underlying assets. The most common derivatives are forward contracts, futures and options. Forward contract: A cash market transaction in which delivery of the commodity is deferred until after the contract has been made. Although the delivery is made in the future, the price is determined  on the initial trade date. The party agreeing to buy the underlying asset in the future is called a long position, and the party agreeing to sell the asset in the future is called a short position. The value of a forward position at maturity depends upon the relationship between the delivery price (K) and the underlying price (ST) at that time. For a long position this payoff is: fT = ST à ¢Ã‹â€  K For a short position, it is: fT = K à ¢Ã‹â€  ST Forward contract is normally traded over-the counter, OTC. Futures contracts are very similar to forward contracts, except they are not exchange-traded or the contract is standardized, and thus does not have the interim partial payments due to marking to market. Before studying the Binomial Tree method, I will look at what options are. 1.2Options An option is a derivative financial instrument that gives the buyer or holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying financial asset or commodity. The buyer of the option gains the right, but not the obligation, to engage in some specific transaction on the asset. An option which conveys the right to buy something is called a call option, and an option which has the right to sell is called a put option. The reference price at which the underlying may be traded is called the exercise price or strike price. Most options have an expiration date. The process of activating an option is called exercise. If the option is not exercised by the expiration date, it becomes void and worthless. The options and related concepts can be classified into the following types: 1. Exchange-traded options Exchange-traded options (also called listed options) are a class of exchange-traded derivatives. Exchange traded options have standardized contracts, and are settled through a clearing house with fulfillment guaranteed by the credit of the exchange. Since the contracts are standardized, accurate pricing models are often available. Exchange-traded options include:[4][5] stock options, commodity options, bond options and other interest rate options stock market index options or, simply, index options and options on futures contracts callable bull/bear contract 2. Over-the-counter Over-the-counter options (OTC options, also called dealer options) are traded between two private parties, and are not listed on an exchange. The terms of an OTC option are unrestricted and may be individually tailored to meet any business need. In general, at least one of the counterparties to an OTC option is a well-capitalized institution. Option types commonly traded over the counter include: Interest rate options Currency cross rate options, and Option on swaps or swaptions. 3. Option styles Some options with complex financial structures are called exotic options, and these include: Barrier option any option with the general characteristic that the underlying securitys price must pass a certain level or barrier before it can be exercised. Double barrier option-A double barrier option involves a mechanism where if either of two limit prices is crossed by the underlying, the option either can be exercised or can no longer be exercised. Cumulative Parisian barrier option -A cumulative Parisian barrier option involves a mechanism where if the total amount of time the underlying asset value has spent above or below a limit price, the option can be exercised or can no longer be exercised. Standard Parisian barrier option-A standard Parisian barrier option involves a mechanism where if the maximum amount of time the underlying asset value has spent consecutively above or below a limit price, the option can be exercised or can no longer be exercised. Binary option-A binary option pays a fixed amount or nothing at all, depending on the price of the underlying instrument at maturity. An Asian option is an option where the payoff is not determined by the underlying price at maturity but by the average underlying price over some pre-set period of time. Bermudan option an option that may be exercised only on specified dates on or before expiration. For a cleaner view, I summarized various types of options in to a table below: standard of classification Types of options Option buyers right Call option and put option Excises time of option buyers. European option and American option intrinsic value In the money options, out of the money options and at the Money options Trading place Exchange-traded options and OTC options(Over-the-counter) Structures of options exotic options and vanilla options Margin of option. Unsecured and secured options There are two main reasons why investors would use options: to reduce risk and to gain more profit such as to speculate and to hedge. These will be discussed later. There are two main types of options, one is the European option the other is American option. The European option can only be exercised on the expiry date, while the American options may be exercised at any time before or on the expiry date. Assume k is the strike price; T is the expiry date, and the payoffs Vt: Vt = (St-K) + (call option) Vt= (K-St) + (put option) In this case, S is the spot price of the underlying asset. (t=T) Next, I will discuss the option pricing problems. Options are a type of bond derivative; its price depends upon the movement of underlying assets. The change of price of underlying assets is random because it is a kind of risk asset. Once the price of underlying assets is confirmed, then the option price can be confirmed too. This is saying that at the time the price of the underlying asset is St, the option price will be Vt and there exists function V(S, t) so that Vt= (St, t). At the expiry date, the value of option VT is the payoffs. VT = (ST-K) + (call option) VT= (K-ST) + (put option) The option pricing problem is to calculate V=V(S, t), (0, V(S, T) = Especially when t=0, and let the stock price is S0, what is the premium? p=V (S0, 0) =? Therefore, the option pricing problem is a working backward problem. 1.3 Types of investors. Now, I will look at three types of people in the stock market Hedger: An individual who enters into hedging trades. Hedging is a way of reducing risk. Hedgers want to avoid exposure to adverse movements in the price of an asset. For example: A Chinese company needs to pay a British supplier one million pounds after 90days.The company is facing the risk of fluctuation of exchange rate. If there is a big exchange-rate rise, this will affect its anticipated profit because of the extra cost. If the exchange rate is 12.5 Yuan / pound. The company considers two Hedging plans in view of the probability that the exchange rate may rise. Plan 1. Buy a forward contract stated to use 12625000 Yuan to purchase one million pounds after 90days. Plan 2. Buy a call option contract stated to use 12500000 Yuan to purchase one million pounds after 90days and pay a 250000 Yuan premium (as 2%). I now list the two hedging strategies in the table below: Spot exchange rate (Yuan/pound) 90dayslater exchange rate(Yuan/pound) Without hedging Forward contract Purchase call option contract 12.5 Increase to13 13million Yuan 12,625,000 Yuan 12,750,000 Yuan Decrease to12 12million Yuan 12,625,000 Yuan 12,250,000yuan According to the statistics provided, it can be seen that there will be extra costs when the exchange rate rises if the company does not use any hedging strategies. The costs are fixed after90days if they choose the forward contract but they may miss the chance that if the exchange rate goes down, they will gain from unforeseen profit .Meanwhile the company will prevent extra costs (rise in exchange rate) and gain profits (decrease in exchange) if they choose to purchase the call options contract, but they have to pay the premium. Speculator: An individual who is taking a position in the market. Usually the individual is betting that the price of an asset will go up or that the price of an asset will go down. Options like futures provide a form of leverage. For a given investment, the use of options magnifies the financial consequences. Good outcomes become very good, while bad outcomes may cause the whole initial investment being lost. For example, assume the stock price of X at 30th of April is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡666. The stock price may go up in August, and there are two investment strategies that investors may take. Investors spend à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡666000 cash on 1000 shares of stocksà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ º Investors purchase a call option contract which ends on 22nd of August: strike price is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡680, 1000shares, assume investors paid à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡39000 premium for that. We now analyze the investors investment return in two different situations. (Ignore the interest rate) Case 1.If the stock price rises up to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡730 on 22nd August. For strategy A: The investor sells stocks on 22nd August to get à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡730000 in cash. Return = (730000-666000)/666000=9.6% For strategy B: The investor exercises his option and gets profit: Profit=730000-680000=à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡50000 Return = (50000-39000)/39000 Case 2.If the stock price drop to à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡660 instead of rise on 22nd August. Strategy A: Loss =666000-660000=à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡6000 Return= (660000-666000)/666000 Strategy B: The investors profit is=0 He will lose à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ¡39000, and the percentage loss is 100%. Arbitrageur An individual engaging in arbitrage. Arbitrage A trading strategy that takes advantage of two or more securities being mispriced relative to each other. Arbitrage opportunities cannot last for long. As arbitrageurs interfere in the market, the forces of supply and demand will bring the market back to equilibrium. Therefore, in my project most of the arguments concern financial derivatives such as option prices, and, forward contracts will be based on the assumption that no arbitrage opportunities exist. 1.4 The Black Scholes Merton model There are seven important assumptions we use to derive the Black Scholes Model: It assumes that percentage changes in the stock price in a short period of time are normally distributed. It is defined as expected return on stock per year and as volatility of the stock price per year. This assumption suggests returns on the underlying stock are normally distributed, which is reasonable for most assets that offer options. It is possible to buy and sell any amount of stock, this includes short selling. There are no transactions costs , taxes or other fees. The stock pays no dividends during the options life. There are no arbitrage opportunities. Markets are efficient and Security trading is continuous. The risk free interest rate is constant and known.(

Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System (Bacps)

Bangladesh Bank Head Office, Dhaka Payment Systems Division PSD Circular No. 02/2009 Managing Director/Chief Executive Officers All scheduled banks in Bangladesh Date : 4 Falgun 1415 February 16, 2009 Dear Sir, Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System (BACPS) at the expanded Dhaka Clearing Region. You are aware that Bangladesh Bank has been working to modernize the country’s payment system. The most visible step towards modernizing payment system is the establishment of the Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH). Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System (BACPS) is one of two components of BACH. The other component of BACH is the Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN), which will be implemented immediately after implementing first phase of BACPS. Selected vendor has already started procuring necessary hardware and software for the BACPS solution. Detailed system specifications and operational configurations are being defined and calculated with a target of going live operation at expanded Dhaka Clearing Region with more than 1050 bank branches of 49 banks in and around the capital city during the second half of 2009. 2. The basic features of BACPS are the adoption of new cheque design standard with a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) code line and the exchange of cheque-image and data instead of paper cheques for clearing and settlement purpose. Retention of the original paper cheque will become the responsibility of the presenting bank rather than the paying bank. Banks are required to make arrangement and develop infrastructures to meet the requirements of the new system. Bangladesh Bank will adopt necessary Regulation(s) and issue Operating Rules and Procedures in this regard. Standards of cheques for BACPS have already been circulated and banks have meanwhile been advised to take steps to print uniform standardized cheques with MICR line. Appropriate information to the banks about requirements they must meet to participate in and interface with BACPS are provided below: (i) Point of Truncation: All scheduled banks who are members of the Dhaka Clearing House will be required to submit their list of selected branches and to finalize their â€Å"point of truncation† for submission of their outward cheque images and data to BACPS and be prepared to handle cheque image and data as part of their inward clearing operations. Banks can choose to truncate and process their cheques at individual branch level or at a consolidation point in line with their business needs. However, it must be noted that each bank will have only one Point of Truncation for BACPS. (ii) Scanning Standard: Images must be captured for both the sides (front and back) of each instrument in the format prescribed below: Image Type 01. 02. Front : Black and White Back : Black and White DPI range 200-300 DPI 200-300 DPI Format TIFF TIFF Compression CCITT G4 CCITT G4 3. iii) Software/Integration: All banks will receive images and data, not paper cheques, from the BACPS for all of the items for which they are the paying bank. Therefore, all banks must acquire the capability to accept as well as to send the image files and data from and to the BACPS. However, those banks who will not be able to equip themselves for processing out clearing items electronically within the stipulated time, will be allowed to process their ‘out-clearingsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ by using the Bangladesh Bank’s own facility at Motijheel for a limited time. However, banks availing of ‘out-clearing’ facilities will have to acquire the capability to receive their ‘In-clearing’ items electronically. Once in-clearing data and images are delivered to a bank by BACPS, the subsequent verification and Contd†¦ P/2 -2- processing of that information becomes the responsibility of the respective paying bank. Bangladesh Bank will supply a gateway software module, known as the Participating Bank Module (PBM) which will act as a gateway, amongst other functions, enabling the receipt or transmission of images and transaction data from and to the BACPS. iv) Communication Links: All scheduled banks are required to put in place two secure communication links, one with BACH Headquarter at Motijheel and another with the BACH Disaster Recovery Site (DRS) at Mirpur. The size and scalability of these links will depend on each bank’s mode of operation and daily volumes. It is preferred that banks acquire fibre optic link an d another redundant communication link with BACH at Motijheel and DRS at Mirpur, Dhaka. 4. Participating banks are required to accomplish the following tasks within the time stipulated below : Activity Issuing MICR standard cheques and phasing out non-standard cheques used by customers b. Selection of vendor(s) and submission of plan for installing necessary hardware and software for cheque processing and connectivity with BACH c. Communication links installed between banks and the BACH d. Users’ Acceptance Test (UAT) for each individual bank with BACPS e. BACPS LIVE a. Dead-line 01-03-2009 to 30-05-2009 30-04-2009 31-05-2009 01-06-2009 to 30-07-2009 03-08-2009 5. The purpose of this circular and distribution of functional specifications is to provide an initial understanding about the requirements that must be met by the participating banks. Detailed specifications attached to this circular are: (i) Active Image Clearing System (AICS) Specification containing the format of the files to be exchanged between BACPS and participating banks (Annexure-I) (ii) PBM Specification regarding functionality for gateway software module (Annexure-II) (iii) Network Specification describing standards for the communication links and security devices required for interfacing with the BACH (Annexure-III) All of these Annexures may be provided in soft versions on a CD and also be available at our website. 6. It is, therefore, advised that member banks update their preparations to be in step with the progress of the implementation of the BACH. The BACPS rules and procedures will be forwarded to you in due course. Please acknowledge receipt. ( Chowdhury Mohidul Haque ) Executive Director, Bangladesh Bank and Project Director, RPP Project Tel: 7167988, Fax: 7164233 Email: chowdhury. [email  protected] org. bd

An Empty Purse Frightens Away Friends

With the so-called  modernization  of the world we inhabit, avariciousness is increasing in the people. Increased facilities mean increased demands and an increased demand means more  stinginess  and with more stinginess comes more treacherousness. Diplomacy has become dominant over chasteness. Even the purity of blood relations and innocence of love is at the verge of extinction. Friendship which once was considered the most immaculate relation is no longer filled with the heartiest emotions of devotion, abstemiousness and harmony.People, these days, like agreements more than relations and friendship. Disloyalty has been the nature of every creature ever since life was concocted. Dog is constantly used in the sayings regarding faithfulness, when gets mad, bites its own master. Some control this evil part (disloyalty) of their complexion, while others bluntly expose it. Many such examples are there in history in which acquisitiveness and perfidiousness overshadowed loyalty. I n the start of human race the two sons of Adam fought, and Cain killed Abel despite their blood relation.Since then, human beings are murdering the beautiful emotions like fidelity and adherence. Its intensity has increased, and is increasing as the time is passing. And humanity is being replaced by inhumanness  in society. Friends no longer have the degree of affinity that they once used to have. Nowadays, it is not love or affection that inspires one to be friend with someone; money and status are the factors that matter these days. Persons are friends in just fair weather, when the status drops or money ends, they tend to leave one in the lurch.We read many stories regarding loyalty and friendship like â€Å"three friends and a bag of gold† in which three childhood friends murder each other just for a bag of gold, because when there is money the eyes and heart go blind. As Dr Thomas Fuller mentioned in his â€Å"Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs†, â€Å"Money is t he sinew of love as well as war. † People want interest in everything, even if there are emotions at the stake. People make friends not because they are inspired by the loyalty or ersonality of the person but because they are seeing their profit in the friendship, and when this specific profit of theirs starts converting to loss, they disappear like they never even knew or they had a complete overhauling of their mind which made them to forget every little detail of the person they once were so close to. It is very difficult to find a friend that stands with one through thick and thin. If one has a loyal friend than one has got more than one’s share.