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Financial Terms Dictionary
Absolute Return
An outright return achieved irrespective of overall market direction. Whereas traditional investments typically measure their success in terms of whether they track or outperform a key market benchmark or index (relative returns), hedge funds and alternative investment strategies aim to achieve outright positive returns irrespective of whether asset prices or key market indices rise or fall (i.e. absolute returns rather than relative returns).
An algorithm is a set of instructions for solving a problem or accomplishing a task. One common example of an algorithm is a recipe, which consists of specific instructions for preparing a dish or meal. Every computerized device uses algorithms to perform its functions in the form of hardware- or software-based routines.
In finance, algorithms have become important in developing automated and high-frequency trading (HFT) systems, as well as in the pricing of sophisticated financial instruments like derivatives.
Widely considered to be a measure of the 'value added' by an investment manager. It is therefore regarded as a proxy for manager or strategy skill. Alpha is sometimes described as out performance of a benchmark or the return generated by an investment independent of the market – what an investment would hypothetically achieve if the market return was zero. More specifically, alpha is sometimes described as the return of an investment less the risk-free interest rate, or the return of the portfolio less the return on the S&P 500 index or some other relevant benchmark index.
Altcoins are cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. They share characteristics with Bitcoin but are also different from them in other ways. For example, some altcoins use a different consensus mechanism to produce blocks or validate transactions. Or, they distinguish themselves from Bitcoin by providing new or additional capabilities, such as smart contracts or low-price volatility.
As of March 2021, there were almost 9,000 cryptocurrencies. According to CoinMarketCap, altcoins accounted for over 40% of the total cryptocurrency market in March 2021.1Because they are derived from Bitcoin, altcoin price movements tend to mimic Bitcoin's trajectory. However, analysts say the maturity of cryptocurrency investing ecosystems and the development of new markets for these coins will make price movements for altcoins independent of Bitcoin's trading signals.
Alternative Investment
The terms 'alternative investment' and 'hedge fund' are often used interchangeably as hedge funds are an important and growing part of the alternative investment arena, which also includes private equity and debt, venture capital and real estate. In the field of asset management, the essential defining feature of alternative investments is the pursuit of absolute returns. That is:
the quest to achieve a positive return regardless of whether asset prices are rising or falling
freedom to trade in a wide range of assets and instruments employing a variety of styles and investment techniques in diverse markets
reliance on the investment manager's skill and application of a clear investment process to exploit market inefficiencies and opportunities with identifiable and understandable causes and origins
Alternative investment managers may take advantage of pricing anomalies between related securities, engage in 'momentum' investing to capture market trends or utilize their expert knowledge of markets and industries to capture profit opportunities that arise from special situations.
The ability to use derivatives, arbitrage techniques and, importantly, short selling – selling assets that one does not own in the expectation of buying them back at a lower price – affords alternative investment managers rich possibilities to generate growth in falling, rising and unstable markets.
Annualised Volatility
See Volatility
The technique of exploiting pricing anomalies between related securities within and between markets with the aim of producing positive returns independent of the direction of broad market prices. By establishing long positions in under-valued assets and short positions in over-valued assets, arbitrageurs aim to capture profit opportunities that arise from the changing price relationship between the assets concerned. Specific investment styles that apply arbitrage techniques include convertible bond arbitrage, fixed income arbitrage, statistical arbitrage and merger or risk arbitrage.
Basic Earnings Per Share (EPS)
Basic earnings per share (EPS) tells investors how much of a firm's net
income was allotted to each share of common stock. It is reported in a
company's income statement and is especially informative for businesses
with only common stock in their capital structures.
Although the term "basis" holds various meanings in finance, it most frequently refers to the difference between the prices and the expenses involved in transactions when calculating taxes. Such usage relates to the broader terms "cost basis" or "tax basis" and is specifically used when capital gains or losses are calculated for income tax filings.
Basis Points
Basis points (BPS) refers to a common unit of measure for interest rates and other percentages in finance. One basis point is equal to 1/100th of 1%, or 0.01%, or 0.0001, and is used to denote the percentage change in a financial instrument. The relationship between percentage changes and basis points can be summarized as follows: 1% change = 100 basis points and 0.01% = 1 basis point.
Basis points are typically expressed in the abbreviations "bp," "bps," or "bips."
A measure of how sensitive an investment portfolio is to market movements. The sign of the beta (+/-) indicates whether, on average, the portfolio's returns move in line with the market (+), or in the opposite direction (-) to the market. If the beta of a portfolio relative to a benchmark index is equal to +1, then the returns on the portfolio follow those of the index. By definition, the beta of that benchmark index is +1. A portfolio with a beta greater than +1 tends to amplify the overall movements of the market, while a portfolio with a beta between 0 and +1 tends to move in the same direction as the market but not to the same extent. A portfolio with a beta of -1 tends to move in the opposite direction to the market.
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency created in January 2009. It follows the ideas set out in a whitepaper by the mysterious and pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.1 The identity of the person or persons who created the technology is still a mystery. Bitcoin offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms and, unlike government-issued currencies, it is operated by a decentralized authority.
Bitcoin is known as a type of cryptocurrency because it uses cryptography to keep it secure. There are no physical bitcoins, only balances kept on a public ledger that everyone has transparent access to (although each record is encrypted). All bitcoin transactions are verified by a massive amount of computing power via a process known as "mining." Bitcoin is not issued or backed by any banks or governments, nor is an individual bitcoin valuable as a commodity. Despite it not being legal tender in most parts of the world, bitcoin is very popular and has triggered the launch of hundreds of other cryptocurrencies, collectively referred to as altcoins. Bitcoin is commonly abbreviated as "BTC" when traded.
If you have been following banking, investing, or cryptocurrency over the last ten years, you may have heard the term "blockchain," the record-keeping technology behind the Bitcoin network.
Blockchain seems complicated, and it definitely can be, but its core concept is really quite simple. A blockchain is a type of database. To be able to understand blockchain, it helps to first understand what a database actually is.
A database is a collection of information that is stored electronically on a computer system. Information, or data, in databases is typically structured in table format to allow for easier searching and filtering for specific information. What is the difference between someone using a spreadsheet to store information rather than a database?
Spreadsheets are designed for one person, or a small group of people, to store and access limited amounts of information. In contrast, a database is designed to house significantly larger amounts of information that can be accessed, filtered, and manipulated quickly and easily by any number of users at once.
An investment strategy whereby an investor considers companies based on their own merit rather than the sectors they are part of or the current economic climate. Opposite of Top-down.
The amount of investment capital that can be comfortably absorbed by a manager or strategy without a diminishing of returns. One useful indication of whether or not a manager or strategy faces capacity constraints is to analyze the degree to which they experience slippage [see Slippage] in the execution of their strategy or trades.
Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR)
The capital adequacy ratio (CAR) is a measurement of a bank's available capital expressed as a percentage of a bank's risk-weighted credit exposures. The capital adequacy ratio, also known as capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR), is used to protect depositors and promote the stability and efficiency of financial systems around the world. Two types of capital are measured: tier-1 capital, which can absorb losses without a bank being required to cease trading, and tier-2 capital, which can absorb losses in the event of a winding-up and so provides a lesser degree of protection to depositors.
Capital Guarantee
See Principal Protection
Classical Guarantee
A fund which employs stringent risk controls which have to comply to fixed risk parameters.
Commission Sharing
Commission sharing is the process whereby Man Group companies recapture some of the commission paid to brokers as part of their normal course trading activities. Recaptured commissions are used to purchase substantive research, and services directly related to the execution of trades ("research and execution services"). Recaptured commission will only ever be used to pay for research and execution services where there is reasonable benefit to clients. Commission sharing is permitted by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, our lead regulator. Please contact us should you require more information on Commission Sharing.
Commodity Asset Class
A raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, for example oil or wheat.
Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA)
The manager or adviser of a managed futures [see Managed futures] fund. The term reflects the fact that early futures markets [see Futures] were commodities-based and were set up to enable producers and buyers to hedge against possible price movements in the underlying asset.
Compound Annual Rate of Return
The compounded 'growth' of an investment that has been achieved each year to enable the initial price to grow to the latest selected price over a particular time period.
Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance (CPPI)
A strategy that synthetically reproduces the pay-out of a put or call option through dynamically adjusting the delta hedge of the underlying asset. Unlike a conventional option, the investment exposure (or participation) of the underlying asset will change over the life of the structure.
Constraining benchmark
An index or similar factor that fund managers use to limit or constrain how they construct a fund's portfolio.
A bond issued by a company that has a set maturity date and pays interest in the form of a coupon. It has features of both a bond and stock and its valuation reflects both types of investments. It gives the holder the option to convert the bond into a specific number of shares of the issuing company – in other words, it has an 'embedded option'.
A measure of the interdependence or strength of the relationship between two investments. A correlation of 1 means that the two investments are perfectly synchronised, while a correlation of -1 implies that they move in symmetrically opposite directions.
Cost of capital is the required return necessary to make a capital budgeting project, such as building a new factory, worthwhile. When analysts and investors discuss the cost of capital, they typically mean the weighted average of a firm's cost of debt and cost of equity blended together.
The cost of capital metric is used by companies internally to judge whether a capital project is worth the expenditure of resources, and by investors who use it to determine whether an investment is worth the risk compared to the return. The cost of capital depends on the mode of financing used. It refers to the cost of equity if the business is financed solely through equity, or to the cost of debt if it is financed solely through debt.
Many companies use a combination of debt and equity to finance their businesses and, for such companies, the overall cost of capital is derived from the weighted average cost of all capital sources, widely known as the weighted average cost of capital (WACC).
An agreement permitting a buyer to receive something of value now, with an obligation to repay this at some date in the future, generally with interest.
Crowdfunding (Reg. CF)
Regulation Crowdfunding enables eligible companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding.
require all transactions under Regulation Crowdfunding to take place online through an SEC-registered intermediary, either a broker-dealer or a funding portal
permit a company to raise a maximum aggregate amount of $5 million through crowdfunding offerings in a 12-month period
limit the amount individual non-accredited investors can invest across all crowdfunding offerings in a 12-month period and
require disclosure of information in filings with the Commission and to investors and the intermediary facilitating the offering
Securities purchased in a crowdfunding transaction generally cannot be resold for one year.
Crowdfunding is the use of small amounts of capital from a large number of individuals to finance a new business venture. Crowdfunding makes use of the easy accessibility of vast networks of people through social media and crowdfunding websites to bring investors and entrepreneurs together, with the potential to increase entrepreneurship by expanding the pool of investors beyond the traditional circle of owners, relatives, and venture capitalists.
Dealing Day
The specific day on which investors can subscribe (buy) or redeem (sell) their holding in a product, as detailed in the relevant product legal document. The dealing day can be daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly, depending on product valuation frequency.
Decentralized Finance - Defi
Decentralized finance, or DeFi, is a system by which financial products become available on a public decentralized blockchain network. That makes them open to anyone to use, rather than going through middlemen like banks or brokerages. Unlike a bank or brokerage account, a government-issued ID, Social Security number, or proof of address are not necessary to use DeFi. More specifically, DeFi refers to a system by which software written on blockchains makes it possible for buyers, sellers, lenders, and borrowers to interact peer to peer or with a strictly software-based middleman rather than a company or institution facilitating a transaction.
Multiple technologies and protocols are used to achieve the goal of decentralization. For example, a decentralized system can consist of a mix of open-source technologies, blockchain, and proprietary software. Smart contracts that automate agreement terms between buyers and sellers or lenders and borrowers make these financial products possible. Regardless of the technology or platform used, DeFi systems are designed to remove intermediaries between transacting parties.
Though the volume of trading tokens and money locked in smart contracts in its ecosystem has been growing steadily, DeFi is an incipient industry whose infrastructure is still being built out. Regulation and oversight of DeFi are minimal or absent.
The sensitivity of an option price to moves in the price of the underlying asset.
Financial contracts such as futures [see Futures], options and various securities that offer 'synthetic' access to an underlying asset such as a commodity, stock market or fixed income security. The price movements of a derivative generally follow the price movements of the underlying asset but derivatives generally require only small amounts of capital (margin) to gain exposure to the underlying asset.
Downside reduction
By employing long/ short investing and hedging strategies the investment may be able to provide protection against severe market drawdowns.
Draw Down
An investment is said to be in a drawdown when its price falls below its last peak [see Net new highs]. The drawdown is the percentage drop in the price of an investment from its last peak price. The period between the peak level and the trough is called the length of the drawdown, and the period between the trough and the recapturing of the peak is called the recovery. The worst or maximum drawdown represents the greatest peak to trough decline over the life of an investment.
An ownership right representing an interest in a company.
Equity Long-Short
Profits from taking up long and offsetting short positions in undervalued and overvalued stocks with a fixed or variable underlying net long or short exposure.
Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) is a measure of company profitability used by investors. It is helpful for comparison of one company to another in the same line of business. In some cases, it also can provide a more accurate view of the company's real performance over time.
Another similar measure adds depreciation to the list of factors to be eliminated from the earnings total. That is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).
Understanding EBITA
A company's EBITA is considered by some analysts and investors to be a more accurate representation of its real earnings. It removes from the equation the taxes owed, the interest on company debt, and the effects of amortization, which is the accounting practice of writing off the cost of an intangible asset over a period of years.
One benefit is that it more clearly indicates how much cash flow a company has on hand to reinvest in the business or pay dividends. It also is seen as an indicator of the efficiency of a company's operations.
EBITA vs. EBITDA
EBITA is not used as commonly as EBITDA, which adds depreciation into the calculation. Depreciation, in company accounting, is the recording of the reduced value of the company's tangible assets over time. It's a way of accounting for the wear and tear on assets such as equipment and facilities. Some companies, such as those in the utilities, manufacturing, and telecommunications industries, require significant expenditures in equipment and infrastructure, which are reflected in their books.
An equity fund is a mutual fund that invests principally in stocks. It can be actively or passively (index fund) managed. Equity funds are also known as stock funds.
Stock mutual funds are principally categorized according to company size, the investment style of the holdings in the portfolio and geography.
Financial health is a term used to describe the state of one's personal monetary affairs. There are many dimensions to financial health, including the amount of savings you have, how much you're putting away for retirement, and how much of your income you are spending on fixed or non-discretionary expenses.
Financial Ratios are powerful tools to help summarize financial statements and the health of a company or enterprise.
Financial Technology - Fintech
Financial technology (Fintech) is used to describe new tech that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. At its core, fintech is utilized to help companies, business owners and consumers better manage their financial operations, processes, and lives by utilizing specialized software and algorithms that are used on computers and, increasingly, smartphones. Fintech, the word, is a combination of "financial technology".
When fintech emerged in the 21st Century, the term was initially applied to the technology employed at the back-end systems of established financial institutions. Since then, however, there has been a shift to more consumer-oriented services and therefore a more consumer-oriented definition. Fintech now includes different sectors and industries such as education, retail banking, fundraising and nonprofit, and investment management to name a few.
Fintech also includes the development and use of crypto-currencies such as bitcoin. While that segment of fintech may see the most headlines, the big money still lies in the traditional global banking industry and its multi-trillion-dollar market capitalization.
Fixed Income Asset Class
A security that pays a specific level of interest. An example of a fixed income security is a bond issued by a government or large company.
Forward Contract
A forward contract is a customised contract between two counterparties to buy or sell a specific asset on a future date at an agreed price. As opposed to stocks and bonds, a forward contract is a derivative instrument, the value of which depends on an underlying asset. Unlike standard futures contracts, forward contracts are not traded on a centralised exchange and are highly customisable.
The underlying proposition of fundamental analysis is that there is a basic intrinsic value for the aggregate stock market, various industries or individual securities and that these depend on underlying economic factors. The identification and analysis of relevant variables combined with the ability to quantify the future value of these variables are key to achieving superior investment results. A wide range of financial information is evaluated in fundamental analysis, including such income statement data as sales, operating costs, pre-tax profit margin, net profit margin, return on equity, cash flow, and earnings per share.
Fundamental analysis contrasts with technical analysis which contends that the prices for individual securities and the overall value of the market tend to move in trends that persist.
A future is a derivative instrument [see Derivatives] that involves a contract to buy or sell an asset (stock index, commodity, currency, fixed income or other security) for delivery at a future date at a specific price.
Gearing refers to the relationship, or ratio, of a company's debt-to-equity (D/E). Gearing shows the extent to which a firm's operations are funded by lenders versus shareholders—in other words, it measures a company's financial leverage. When the proportion of debt-to-equity is great, then a business may be thought of as being highly geared, or highly leveraged.
Gearing Ratio
Gearing ratios are financial ratios that compare some form of owner's equity (or capital) to debt, or funds borrowed by the company. Gearing is a measurement of the entity's financial leverage, which demonstrates the degree to which a firm's activities are funded by shareholders' funds versus creditors' funds.
The gearing ratio is a measure of financial leverage that demonstrates the degree to which a firm's operations are funded by equity capital versus debt financing.
General Business Tax Credit
The general business tax credit is the total value of all the individual credits to be applied against income on a tax return. This credit can be carried forward for a number of years in most cases and can also be carried back in some cases.
Global Registered Share (GRS)
A global registered share (GRS), or a global share, is a security that is issued in the United States, but it is registered in multiple markets around the world and trades in multiple currencies. With global shares, identical shares may trade on different stock exchanges and in various currencies across country borders without needing to be converted into local currencies. All holders of global shares, as with any other shareholder, have equal rights—such as voting, percentage of dividends, and so forth—in the issuing corporation.
Hurdle Rate
A hurdle rate is the minimum rate of return on a project or investment required by a manager or investor. It allows companies to make important decisions on whether or not to pursue a specific project. The hurdle rate describes the appropriate compensation for the level of risk present—riskier projects generally have higher hurdle rates than those with less risk.
In order to determine the rate, the following are some of the areas that must be taken into consideration: associated risks, cost of capital, and the returns of other possible investments or projects.
High Frequency Trading HFT
High-frequency trading, also known as HFT, is a method of trading that uses powerful computer programs to transact a large number of orders in fractions of a second. It uses complex algorithms to analyze multiple markets and execute orders based on market conditions. Typically, the traders with the fastest execution speeds are more profitable than traders with slower execution speeds.
In addition to the high speed of orders, HFT is also characterized by high turnover rates and order-to-trade ratios. Some of the best-known HFT firms include Tower Research, Citadel LLC, and Virtu Financial.
Hybrid Fund
A hybrid fund is an investment fund that is characterized by diversification among two or more asset classes. These funds typically invest in a mix of stocks and bonds. They may also be known as asset allocation funds.
Understanding Hybrid Funds
Hybrid funds offer investors a diversified portfolio. The term hybrid indicates that the fund strategy includes investment in multiple asset classes. In general, it can also mean that the fund uses an alternative mixed management approach.
Hybrid funds are commonly known as asset allocation funds. In the investment market, asset allocation funds can be used for many purposes. These funds offer investors an option for investing in multiple asset classes through a single fund.
Hybrid funds evolved from the implementation of modern portfolio theory in fund management. These funds can offer varying levels of risk tolerance ranging from conservative to moderate and aggressive.
Balanced funds are also a type of hybrid fund. Balanced funds often follow a standard asset allocation proportion, such as 60/40.
Target date funds or lifecycle funds also fit into the hybrid category. These funds invest in multiple asset classes for diversification. Target date funds vary from standard hybrid funds in that their portfolio portions begin with a more aggressive allocation and progressively rebalance to a more conservative allocation for use by a specified utilization date.
A blend fund (or blended fund) is a type of equity mutual fund that includes a mix of both value and growth stocks. These funds offer investors diversification among these popular investment styles in a single portfolio.
Hybrid Security
A hybrid security is a single financial security that combines two or more different financial instruments. Hybrid securities, often referred to as "hybrids," generally combine both debt and equity characteristics. The most common type of hybrid security is a convertible bond that has features of an ordinary bond but is heavily influenced by the price movements of the stock into which it is convertible.
Hedge fund products which pay an income stream are a type of structured product which continues to grow in popularity. The benefit of this type of structure is that it provides a transparent payoff profile through regular (for example semi-annual) defined income payments for a fixed term.
An intangible asset is an asset that is not physical in nature. Goodwill, brand recognition and intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights, are all intangible assets. Intangible assets exist in opposition to tangible assets, which include land, vehicles, equipment, and inventory.
Additionally, financial assets such as stocks and bonds, which derive their value from contractual claims, are considered tangible assets.
Investment Regions
An investment region is the primary geographic region a fund is focused on. For example, an emerging markets fund will invest exclusively in emerging economies, such as Brazil, India, Mexico and Russia.
Typical investment regions include
The term investment strategy refers to a set of principles designed to help an individual investor achieve their financial and investment goals. This plan is what guides an investor's decisions based on goals, risk tolerance, and future needs for capital.1 They can vary from conservative (where they follow a low-risk strategy where the focus is on wealth protection) while others are highly aggressive (seeking rapid growth by focusing on capital appreciation).2
Investors can use their strategies to formulate their own portfolios or do so through a financial professional. Strategies aren't static, which means they need to be reviewed periodically as circumstances change.3
Investment Style
IPO's
One refers to an `initial public offering (IPO)` when a private company sells shares of its stock to the general public for the first time via a securities exchange. Through this process, a private company transforms into a public company.
Joint Venture (JV)
Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning "change for the better" or "continuous improvement." It is a Japanese business philosophy regarding the processes that continuously improve operations and involve all employees. Kaizen sees improvement in productivity as a gradual and methodical process.
The concept of kaizen encompasses a wide range of ideas. It involves making the work environment more efficient and effective by creating a team atmosphere, improving everyday procedures, ensuring employee engagement, and making a job more fulfilling, less tiring, and safer.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI's)
Key performance indicators (KPIs) refer to a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a company's overall long-term performance.
KPIs specifically help determine a company's strategic, financial, and operational achievements, especially compared to those of other businesses within the same sector.
Keiretsu
Keiretsu is a Japanese term referring to a business network made up of different companies, including manufacturers, supply chain partners, distributors, and occasionally financiers. They work together, have close relationships, and sometimes take small equity stakes in each other, all the while remaining operationally independent. Translated literally, keiretsu means "headless combine."
The knowledge economy is a system of consumption and production that is based on intellectual capital. In particular, it refers to the ability to capitalize on scientific discoveries and basic and applied research. This has come to represent a large component of all economic activity in most developed countries. In a knowledge economy, a significant component of value may thus consist of intangible assets such as the value of its workers' knowledge or intellectual property.
Key Ratio
Key ratio is the name given to any financial ratio that's considered particularly effective at measuring, illustrating, and summarizing a company's financials in relation to its competitors or peers.
Investors and companies rely on key ratios all the time to get a snapshot of liquidity, efficiency, profitability, and so forth. Each key ratio focuses on a particular aspect of the company, meaning it is often necessary to consult several of them to get a more complete idea of how the subject is faring. Those that are in sound financial health will have superior ratios to those that are performing poorly.
Leverage and gearing effectively mean the same thing: the process or effect of 'gearing up' or magnifying exposure to an investment strategy, manager or asset. Leverage can be achieved by borrowing capital or using derivatives. A leveraged investment is subject to a multiplied effect regarding the profit or loss that results from a comparatively small change in price. Thus leverage offers the opportunity to achieve enhanced returns, but at the same time typically involves greater risk and can result in a loss that is proportionally greater than the amount invested.
A relative term to describe the speed at which an asset or assets can be converted into cash (liquidated) and vice versa. Common terms include
Other – such as quarterly or ad hoc.
Lock-up Period
An interval during which an investment may not be sold.
Long Investments
Buying securities that are considered undervalued in the expectation that they will rise in value.
Long-Short
Profits from taking long and offsetting short positions in undervalued and overvalued securities with a fixed or variable underlying net long or short exposure.
A factor that is relevant to a broad economy at a regional or national level. For example, such factors include economic output, unemployment, inflation, savings and investment.
The segment of the alternative investment industry which actively trades and manages futures instruments [see Futures]. The advisers that focus their asset management efforts on futures are known as CTAs [see Commodity Trading Adviser]. They invest on both the long and short side of the market and usually employ quantitative or technical analysis [see Quantitative analysis] and systematic investment processes.
The amount of capital that has to be deposited as collateral in order to gain full exposure to an asset.
Market Neutral
Denotes an approach to investment where the emphasis is on the value of securities relative to each other and the use of arbitrage techniques [see Arbitrage], rather than market direction forecasting. By emphasising the relative value of securities and the exploitation of pricing anomalies between related securities, practitioners of market neutral approaches aim to generate profits regardless of the overall direction of broad market prices. Market neutrality is generally achieved by offsetting, or hedging, long and short positions or maintaining balanced exposure in the market. The term market neutral can be applied with some justification to the majority of alternative investment styles because of their ability to capitalise on both upward and downward price moves or to profit in a wide range of market environments.
Monte Carlo Simulation
A mathematical technique used to model the price characteristics of an investment structure based on random simulations of the underlying assets or variables that affect the price of that investment. In the context of the modeling carried out at Man, the analysis involves constructing multiple NAV paths for a product, net of all appropriate fees and interest, using random samples of gross monthly returns. The price characteristics that can be modeled using this powerful technique are known as 'path-dependent' characteristics, such as risk, return, and drawdowns, which depend on NAV movements over the life of an investment structure.
The speed of price change over a period of time. Momentum-based investment styles, notably trend following approaches, aim to capitalise on the acceleration in directional price movements, be they upward or downward.
A widely used composite index of capital-weighted stocks developed by Morgan Stanley Capital International, which can act as a proxy for world stocks when assessing the relative performance of any portfolio with global asset exposure.
An investment that combines a number of asset classes, for example stocks and bonds.
Net New Highs
A net new high is reached when the net asset value of an investment exceeds the previous peak level in the net asset value (also known as the 'high watermark'). Performance fees [see Performance fee] are levied on net new highs.
Open-Ended Product/Fund
An investment product with no defined lifespan. New units (e.g. shares, bonds, units, notes) are created or dissolved as required. Investors can subscribe (buy) or redeem (sell) these units at the prevailing net asset value per unit in accordance with the details set out in the relevant product prospectus.
A derivative instrument [see Derivatives] that gives the holder the right, without obligation, to buy (call) or sell (put) a security or asset at a fixed price within a specified period or at a particular future date.
Portfolio Efficent Frontier
By plotting the intersection of risk and reward for different investments or weightings of assets, one can generate a risk/reward curve or 'frontier' for those investments. The efficient frontier is the point on such a curve where an investment combination delivers the most favorable balance of risk and reward.
See Trend
Principal Protection
An arrangement or mechanism built into an investment product whereby investors are assured that their initial investment is secure and that this amount will at the very least be returned to them when such a product reaches its maturity date. Principal protection features can take a variety of forms, including capital guarantees provided by banks.
Prime Broker
In the context of a long/short equity approach, a prime broker acts as the intermediary between the two counterparties involved in short selling by matching a stock borrower (equity long/short manager) with a stock lender (typically a pension fund or large institution). The prime broker also collects margin payments from short sellers should the market price of the stock move against them.
Pro Forma
A representation of a track record [see Track record] that is developed to show the effect on actual performance of intended or potential adjustments for different fee structures, portfolio allocations or other variations in the investment structure upon which the original track record is based. It is important to note that a pro forma is based on actual trading results and differs from a simulation, which models the hypothetical performance of a portfolio or investment approach that has yet to be applied or implemented in actual trading.
Analysis that uses subjective judgment to evaluate securities based on non-financial information such as management expertise, cyclicality of industry, strength of research and development, labor relations and depth of operational infrastructure.
Qualitative analysis evaluates important factors that cannot be precisely measured rather than the actual financial data about a company.
Quantitative analysis uses statistical techniques to develop investment models using key financial ratios and economic indicators. The use of objective data facilitates the comparison of a large universe of securities to identify a select range of potential investment possibilities.
Quantitative analysis deals with measurable factors in contrast to qualitative considerations such as the character of management.
Risk tolerance is the degree of variability in investment returns that an investor is willing to withstand in their financial planning. Risk tolerance is an important component in investing. You should have a realistic understanding of your ability and willingness to stomach large swings in the value of your investments; if you take on too much risk, you might panic and sell at the wrong time.
Risk tolerance is often associated with age, although that is not the only determining factor. However, in a general sense, people who are younger and have a longer time horizon are often able to and are encouraged to take on greater risk than people older with a shorter-term horizon.
Greater risk tolerance is often synonymous with equities and equity funds and ETFs, while lower risk tolerance is often associated with bonds, bond funds, and ETFs. But age itself shouldn't determine a switch in asset classes. Those with a higher net worth and more disposable income can also typically afford to take greater risks with their investments.
Required Rate of Return (RRR)
Before an individual embarks upon an investment or a company on a specific project, they seek to determine the benefit, or profit, that they will achieve from doing so.
There are many methods of discovering the return of an investment, and usually, an investor or company will seek a required rate of return before they move ahead with the investment or project.
The required rate of return (RRR) is the minimum amount of profit (return) an investor will seek or receive for assuming the risk of investing in a stock or another type of security.
RRR is also used to calculate how profitable a project might be relative to the cost of funding that project. RRR signals the level of risk that's involved in committing to a given investment or project. The greater the return, the greater the level of risk.
Risk Adjusted Performance
Risk relative to return – the return achieved per unit of risk or the risk associated with a particular level of reward, typically represented by the Sharpe ratio [see Sharpe ratio]. Improving the risk-adjusted return depends either on increasing returns and maintaining the level of risk or maintaining the level of returns and lowering the associated risk.
A measure of risk-adjusted performance [see Risk-adjusted performance] that indicates the level of excess return per unit of risk. In the calculation of Sharpe ratio, excess return is the return over and above the short-term risk free rate of return and this figure is divided by the risk, which is represented by the annualized volatility or standard deviation [see Volatility and Standard deviation]. The greater the Sharpe ratio the greater the risk-adjusted return.
Short Selling / Short Investments
A trading technique whereby an investment manager arranges to borrow stock from a stock lender with a view to selling it and buying it back at a lower price in the future.
Slippage
The difference between the sample or target price for buying or selling an asset and the actual price at which the transaction takes place.
A smart contract is a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. The code controls the execution, and transactions are trackable and irreversible.
Smart contracts permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out among disparate, anonymous parties without the need for a central authority, legal system, or external enforcement mechanism.
While blockchain technology has come to be thought of primarily as the foundation for bitcoin, it has evolved far beyond underpinning the virtual currency.
A measure of risk-adjusted performance [see Risk-adjusted performance] that indicates the level of excess return per unit of downside risk. It differs from the Sharpe ratio [see Sharpe ratio] in that it recognizes investors' preference for upside ('good') over downside ('bad') volatility and uses a measure of 'bad' volatility as provided by semi-deviation – the annualized standard deviation of the returns that fall below a target return, say the risk free rate.
A widely used measurement of risk, usually used to represent volatility [see Volatility], derived by calculating the square root of the variance of the returns of an investment from their mean.
Structured Product
Typically provides principal protection [see Principal protection], invests across a range of styles and managers, provides increased investment exposure [see Leverage] and requires a high level of structuring expertise with respect to blending investment approaches, financing, liquidity and risk management.
An individual hedge fund's strategy/investment approach can generally be categorized into one of five main styles: equity hedge, event driven, global macro, managed futures or relative value. Practitioners of a particular style will have their own investment process or strategy with unique distinguishing features and techniques.
Target Benchmark
An index or similar factor that is part of a target a fund manager has set for a fund's performance to match or exceed (including anything used for performance fee calculation).
The basic premise of technical analysis is that prices move in trends that persist and this characteristic can be used to achieve superior returns. Technical analysis often uses computer programmes to examine market data such as prices and volume of trading to make an estimate of future price trends and an investment decision.
Unlike fundamental analysis, technical analysis is not concerned with the financial position of a company.
The total percentage return of an investment over a specified period, calculated by expressing the difference between the investment's initial price and final price as a percentage of the initial price.
Trading Advisor Report (TAR)
A performance report produced by an investment manager that is made available, usually on a monthly basis, to clients with holdings in a particular product. The report details the change in net asset value of a product and explains performance in light of market conditions as well as any relevant portfolio changes and developments.
The actual performance of an investment since inception, usually represented by audited monthly returns, net of fees.
The general direction of the market, such as a relatively persistent upward or downward price movement over a period, sometimes represented by the mean of price changes in that period.
An investment strategy whereby an investor finds the best sectors to invest in and then searches for the best companies within those sectors or industries. Opposite of Bottom-up.
Unit / New Unit
A generic term used to describe the 'instrument' (share, bond, unit, note) which is issued by a product. Investors subscribe to or invest in a product by buying units and redeem their holding by selling units at the prevailing net asset value per unit, as detailed in the relevant legal document.
Value is the monetary, material, or assessed worth of an asset, good, or service. "Value" is attached to a myriad of concepts including shareholder value, the value of a firm, fair value, and market value. Some of the terms are well-known business jargon, and some are formal terms for accounting and auditing standards of reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Value-at-Risk
Value at risk (VaR) is a statistic that quantifies the extent of possible financial losses within a firm, portfolio, or position over a specific time frame. This metric is most commonly used by investment and commercial banks to determine the extent and probabilities of potential losses in their institutional portfolios.
Risk managers use VaR to measure and control the level of risk exposure. One can apply VaR calculations to specific positions or whole portfolios or use them to measure firm-wide risk exposure.
Variability
Variability, almost by definition, is the extent to which data points in a statistical distribution or data set diverge—vary—from the average value, as well as the extent to which these data points differ from each other. In financial terms, this is most often applied to the variability of investment returns. Understanding the variability of investment returns is just as important to professional investors as understanding the value of the returns themselves. Investors equate a high variability of returns to a higher degree of risk when investing.
Volatility is a statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. In most cases, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security. Volatility is often measured as either the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index.
In the securities markets, volatility is often associated with big swings in either direction. For example, when the stock market rises and falls more than one percent over a sustained period of time, it is called a "volatile" market. An asset's volatility is a key factor when pricing options contracts.
Wall Street Prime Rate
The Wall Street Journal Prime Rate is an aggregate average of the various prime rates that 10 of the largest banks in the United States charge to their highest credit quality customers for loans with relatively short-term maturities.1
This combined rate is obtained by way of a market survey and published regularly by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is a calculation of a firm's cost of capital in which each category of capital is proportionately weighted. All sources of capital, including common stock, preferred stock, bonds, and any other long-term debt, are included in a WACC calculation.
A firm's WACC increases as the beta and rate of return on equity increase because an increase in WACC denotes a decrease in valuation and an increase in risk.
X-Efficiency
X-efficiency refers to the degree of efficiency maintained by firms under conditions of imperfect competition. Efficiency in this context means a company getting the maximum outputs from its inputs, including employee productivity and manufacturing efficiency. In a highly competitive market, firms are forced to be as efficient as possible to ensure strong profits and continued existence. This is not true in situations of imperfect competition, such as with a monopoly or duopoly.
X-Mark Signature
An X-mark signature is made by a person in lieu of an actual signature. Due to illiteracy or disability, a person may be unable to append a full signature in name to a document as an attestation that its content has been reviewed and approved. In order to be legally valid, the X-mark signature must be witnessed.
Year Over Year (YOY)
Year-Over-Year (YOY) is a frequently used financial comparison for comparing two or more measurable events on an annualized basis.
Looking at YOY performance allows for gauging if a company's financial performance is improving, static, or worsening. For example, in financial reports, you may read that a particular business reported its revenues increased for the third quarter, on a YOY basis, for the last three years.
Yearly Rate of Return Method
The yearly rate of return method, commonly referred to as the annual percentage rate, is the amount earned on a fund throughout an entire year. The yearly rate of return is calculated by taking the amount of money gained or lost at the end of the year and dividing it by the initial investment at the beginning of the year. This method is also referred to as the annual rate of return or the nominal annual rate.
Yield refers to the earnings generated and realized on an investment over a particular period of time. It's expressed as a percentage based on the invested amount, current market value, or face value of the security.
Yield includes the interest earned or dividends received from holding a particular security. Depending on the valuation (fixed vs. fluctuating) of the security, yields may be classified as known or anticipated.
Zero Coupon Bond
A bond bought at a discount from its face value which offers the entire payment at the time of maturity. Unlike other bonds, it does not make periodic interest payments, hence the name 'zero coupon bond'.
Zero-sum is a situation in game theory in which one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss, so the net change in wealth or benefit is zero. A zero-sum game may have as few as two players or as many as millions of participants. In financial markets, options and futures are examples of zero-sum games, excluding transaction costs. For every person who gains on a contract, there is a counter-party who loses.


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The new openstates.org: a sneak peek
Posted on December 2, 2017 | Miles Watkins
The current Open States website has served us well. It's a crucial gateway for citizens to track, search, and learn about their representatives and bills, and receives hundreds of thousands of hits per month when legislatures are in session.
But at six years old, the interface is starting to show its age, in both usability and visual design. Most significantly, openstates.org is not mobile-responsive, a bad experience for smartphone and tablet users. Previously, Sunlight had published Open States mobile apps, but as a volunteer-powered independent organization, Open States doesn't have the resources to maintain those alongside the website. It's also more common nowadays to simply build responsive websites, rather than release separate mobile apps.
So, when we needed to update openstates.org to use the Open Civic Data infrastructure, James and I decided to invest in a significant refresh.
We've been working with Olivia Cheng, designer and front-end developer, to improve the visual feel of the website. Through exposure to the project while at Sunlight, and via conversations with James and myself, Olivia has applied a modern design eye to the data we publish.
One potential refreshed Open States logo
While I'm not the right person to discuss the theory and best-practices behind the upcoming openstates.org, Olivia plans to explain these in a future blog post. In the meantime, I'd like to share some screenshots of our existing site, compared with Olivia's refresh!
Current legislator card
Updated legislator card
Current "recent legislation" list
Updated "recent legislation" list
Current legislator vote list
Updated legislator vote list
With the visual elements mainly finished, we're about ready to build out the website itself in Django and React. We hope to launch a version of the site in early 2018.
We want to thank our supporters for making this redesign possible, as well as our other big forthcoming releases, like API version 2. Stay tuned here for additional blog posts, as we wrap up 2017 and head into the new year.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The collection launched on April 16th 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of writer S.R.Crockett. You can buy ALL volumes from our virtual bookstore in ebook format (both Kindle and epub) as well as in paperback.
There are special discounts for members of The Galloway Raiders.
'The Galloway Collection' is also available worldwide from Amazon stores and will soon be available from other retail outlets.


Coming off a year of 50 percent software sales growth, IGEL is raising the stakes in the endpoint protection and management market with a blockbuster technology collaboration with NVIDIA, AWS integration, an LG partnership, and a ground breaking new managed service provider/systems integrator (SI) partner program.
IGEL is set to formally unveil the new alliances and the MSP/SI program at its DISRUPT 2019 End User Computing Forum to be held Feb. 5-7 in Silicon Valley.
Jed Ayres, president and CEO of IGEL North America and global CMO, said the ambitious 2019 slate is aimed at propelling the once little known German company that broke the $100 million revenue barrier this year into the undisputed number one position in the software defined endpoint market over the next 18 to 24 months.
"Something special is happening here," said Ayres, speaking about the company's 26 percent overall revenue growth in 2019 to $110 million with a whopping 79 percent software sales growth in the US market. "We deployed nearly 500,000 net new IGEL OS clients in 2018 and we are aiming to double that this year. Nobody in this market is growing at this pace. The deals are getting bigger and bigger. We did seven deals this year over $1 million."
Ayres attributed the company's success to a relentless focus on delivering disruptive software innovation with its IGEL OS, management platform and its portfolio of products like UD Pocket which is saving customers deploying the software millions of dollars in end user client device management costs.
"IGEL has something that is scaring the daylights out of our competitors: a very mature Linux operating system that is more secure, easier to manage and that converts existing infrastructure and makes it work better," said Ayres. "Look at the economics. We're giving customers the best OS and management solution and you can put it on existing x86 hardware. Our competitors are focused on hardware. We are focused on software and managing endpoints at scale. When we started this transformation two years ago nobody could have imagined this small thin client company in Germany becoming the disruptive software defined powerhouse we are today."
IGEL is picking up the pace on its endpoint innovation offensive with breakthroughs like the NVIDIA deal which puts the IGEL OS on a 64-bit ARM-based NVIDIA Jetson platform, said Ayres.
"For the endpoint market, this is the equivalent of putting a man on the moon," said Ayres. "This brings NVIDIA which is recognized for its compute power in the AI market together with IGEL for the endpoint OS and management platform. This deal really shows the euphoria we are seeing in the industry for IGEL software. No one in this market is delivering an ARM solution like this with enterprise grade performance. This collaboration with NVIDIA is going to really drive the VDI and internet of things market for us."
IGEL is set to unveil a partnership with Teradici that provides integration with AWS Workspaces through the Teradici PCoIP (PC over IP) protocol. "We see this AWS integration as a huge sales growth driver in 2019," said Ayres. "We already have big enterprise customers that want to deploy AWS Workspaces with IGEL. As soon as we turn this on we are going to see a floodgate of orders. This deal is an on-boarding path for hundreds of millions of x86 devices looking to tie into the AWS Workspaces solution. You are going to see fireworks in the AWS marketplace once this first ever Linux OS Workspaces solution is released in February."
IGEL is also announcing a new partnership to provide the IGEL OS on LG all-in-one thin clients. "LG is the leader in all-in-one, based on their strength in monitors and we are now working with LG to deliver an integrated best in class solution for virtualized environments and cloud workspaces," said Ayres. "These All-in-One solutions are very hot right now in education and healthcare."
Besides the new alliances, IGEL is ready to roll out a new MSP/Systems Integrator program that opens the door for partners to own IGEL software licenses with the ability to wrap those licenses into a wider endpoint managed services offering. "This is the future of the channel," said Ayres." This allows partners to build IGEL into cloud workspace solutions that the partners themselves own and manage. This is where the channel has to go. This is about partners orchestrating and managing services as trusted advisors."
Rob Green, the cofounder and CTO for Dizzion, a next-generation, born-in-the-cloud MSP that delivers an end-user cloud platform with its proprietary COSMOS (Cloud Orchestration Service Management Operations System), said he sees the IGEL MSP program as the biggest game changer for the channel.
"We're most excited about the MSP program which provides us with a service provider licensing model," he said. "This gives us the ability to immediately provision IGEL software licenses versus having to wait days to get those licenses. This is analogous to going from horse drawn carriages to cars. This expands what we can go after as a business. Now my licenses will be as dynamic and as fast as my business. That is huge. What has been hindering us from a growth standpoint will be gone now that IGEL has this MSP program This gives us the ability to scale our business and translates into better cost of goods sold, better margins. It makes for a healthier business. "
Green said Dizzion's IGEL sales grew at a 50 percent clip in 2018 and he expects to beat that growth rate this year. "With the new IGEL MSP program, there are no governors or hindrances to how fast we can grow," he said.
Michael Hogan, president of Hogan Consulting Group, a national endpoint solution provider headquartered in Chesterton, IN, said his IGEL sales were up 100 percent in 2018 and he expects even more dramatic growth in 2019. "We already have $2.5 million in our sales pipeline for this year and it's only the second week of the year," he said. "We have just had incredible success with IGEL. It is reducing cost and complexity for the customer. It's all about software. It's the Tesla of endpoint management. IGEL is a software driven company and that is really resonating with our customers."
Hogan also sees the new MSP program as the biggest revenue game-changer for partner. "Our managed services practice is growing at 100 percent year over year," he said. "This is going to allow us to add greater value to customers, distributing everything to our customers from a centralized location. It makes our business much more scalable."
Hogan credited Ayres for an IGEL software transformation that has changed the endpoint management landscape. "Jed gets that it's all about the software and the channel," he said. "They have the right person leading the company, the best product and they have the channel fully engaged. They are going to dominate. There is no question about it."
Carl Gersh, director of sales and marketing for Forthright Technology Partners, the IGEL partner of the year with three times the sales growth over 2017, said IGEL's software transformation has put IGEL in a completely different category than traditional hardware thin client vendors.
"IGEL has an operating system that accommodates any and all platforms, said Gersh. "The competition is nowhere near the capabilities, flexibility and choice that IGEL is giving customers. That is a huge selling point. IGEL's capability to manage endpoints is second to none. We are not talking about thin clients with customers with the IGEL solution. This is not a hardware discussion. It is about managing endpoints of any kind. None of the other thin client companies can compete in that regard. They are racing to the bottom selling thin clients cheaper and cheaper."
Gersh compared IGEL's software prowess to the operating system dominance Microsoft experienced in the eighties as the PC market exploded. "Microsoft was hugely successful compared to the hardware companies because they understood it was all about software," he said. "It didn't matter if it was an IBM, Compaq or Acer PC. It feels the same way with IGEL. They don't care what hardware it is. It is all about the IGEL OS. They get it. IGEL doesn't care about the logo on the device. They just want to manage it. It's a case of IGEL inside."
Among the deals that Forthright closed in 2018 was a $1 million plus deal with a financial services company that was a key driver in a digital transformation initiative. "The key for that customer was simplicity of management and a drastic reduction in their IT labor costs," he said.
Gersh sees IGEL's momentum increasing in 2019 with the concept of intelligent workspace solution emerging in the endpoint market. "That concept is all about your apps, data and collaboration tools not tied to any specific device, but accessed through a variety of devices," he said. "That's a big shift with all of your applications and documents now accessible from a phone, thin client or home computer with the same experience no matter where you are. That increases the value of information technology and changes the idea that end user compute is tied to a specific device."
As a result of IGEL's success, distribution behemoth Ingram Micro has moved the company from its Emerging Vendor Group to its Vendor Management Group. Among the breakout vendors that have made that move at Ingram over the years are: Veeam, which just announced $500 million in funding to drive acquisitions and research and development; Nimble, which is changing the storage market with its InfoSight predictive analytics software and is now part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and cloud based data management and backup provider Acronis.
IGEL's focus on delivering software innovation for secure endpoint management is resonating with Ingram Micro partners, said Veraldi. "They are 100 percent focused on secure, endpoint management in a market where security is top of mind for every CEO and CIO," he said. "We see a very bright future working together with IGEL in the endpoint management market."
Ayres, for his part, said he sees the IGEL "Cinderella" story continuing with the company becoming the number one Linux OS based end user managed platform for cloud workspaces and virtualized environments. "We have the biggest and best VARs, SIs and MSPs in the world knocking down our door for our technology," he said. "They recognize IGEL is the right solution at the right time with the right people. We are staring down a sales pipeline like no other company. This is a perfect storm."


Probability theory:. for which simple games involving coins, cards, dice,.
Probability: Theory and Examples Rick Durrett Edition 4.1,. 1.6 Expected Value.
The Excess of Heads over Tails, Long Leads,. of heads by more than 20 after 500 tosses of a fair coin.The next theorem gives the relationship between the types of. fair coin is expected to be. Pantera Capital has also invested in another startup called Maecenas,. decorative arts, coins,.Check out the exact number at Coin Time Machine.
The Expected Value Among the simplest summaries of quantitative data is the sample mean. We illustrate this with the example of tossing a coin three times.Lecture Notes 4 Convergence (Chapter 5) 1 Random Samples Let X 1.
The Central Limit theorem, Normal Distribution and Poker hand distributions. of heads from flipping a coin 1000 times, the expected value is 500.
Joseph Mack. where as a side effect you derive Bayes Theorem. (other than the numerical value is the.Central Limit Theorem (Sample Sum). expected value and standard deviation of your winnings.
Coin flipping, probability,. 15 or more heads on 20 tosses of a fair coin is 0.021. This is is the p value for the test we. the central limit theorem. BINOMIAL EXPANSIONS In Chapter 5 you learned how to square a binomial. The binomial theorem gives the expansion of (a b)n.
Say I hand you a coin. Questions like the ones above fall into a domain called hypothesis testing. X takes on the value 1 (representing heads).


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Home CoronaVirus Ontario To Release Framework To Reopen Economy As COVID-19 Long-Term Care Deaths...
Ontario To Release Framework To Reopen Economy As COVID-19 Long-Term Care Deaths Increase
The provincial government will unveil a framework early next week for how it plans to reopen Ontario's economy, Premier Doug Ford said on Friday.
In his daily press briefing on the COVID-19 crisis, Ford said the community-wide spread of the virus was a step in the right direction. But he also warned that any plans to reopen would be accompanied by priority given to the health and safety of residents of Ontario.
" [The plan] will provide a gradual and measured approach to the opening, "said Ford.
Health Minister Christine Elliott also said the province will start planning elective surgeries "as soon as we can."
"This is something I know is extremely anxiety-provoking for many people," she said.
But, she noted, Ontario still treats more than 500 cases daily, so officials must make sure the province has passed its peak of transmission to make sure hospital capacity is adequate.
Meanwhile, the military is now responding to retirement and long-term care homes in the province, where the Ontario government reported a jump in 57 deaths on Friday.
There are currently 131 outbreaks in homes across the province, with 573 deaths in total. Some 2,287 residents and 1,089 employees were also positive.
Ford had asked the federal government for military support in five of Ontario's hardest hit nursing homes:
Orchard Villa, 40 deaths, 104 resident cases, 59 staff cases.
Eatonville Health Center, 37 deaths, 143 cases.
Altamont Community Care Center, 28 deaths of residents and one staff member, 58 cases of residents, five cases of staff.
Hawthorne Place, nine deaths, 47 cases.
Holland Christian Homes 'Grace Manor, two deaths, 49 resident cases, 21 staff cases.
Military support could be redeployed to other sites if necessary, province spokeswoman Ivana Yelich said in a statement on Friday.
"Our top priority is to ensure that the staff in these long-term care homes can focus on providing care and have the resources to help stop the spread of this virus," the statement said.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, the province's deputy chief medical officer of health, said at a press conference on Friday afternoon that the province was "extremely concerned" about the numbers seen in long-term and mid-term care rallying, but "cautiously optimistic" about the spread in the community. .
Officials say the number of people in the wider community has peaked, but "we will not know for sure when we will be at the top until we are going down," she said. declared.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe said Friday that officials will not really know that COVID-19 cases have peaked until the numbers begin to drop. (CBC)
Still, Yaffe said, it looks like the numbers have "plateaued" – but she couldn't say how long the numbers would peak along this line.
"It could actually take weeks," she said. " We do not know. "
Province Reports 640 New Cases
Ontario reported a record 640 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the province since the start of the outbreak to 13,519.
The provincial government reports 763 deaths, although CBC News has counted 814 deaths according to data from local health units. Some 7,087 people have recovered.
The province claims to have completed 12,295 tests within 24 hours of its last update, while 5,414 are currently under investigation.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations for the virus have gone from 877 to 910.
The number of intensive care and ventilator patients also increased, bringing the total to 243 and 193, respectively.
These updated figures come a day after Ford announced that her mother-in-law, who lives in a Toronto long-term care home ravaged by COVID-19, had tested positive for the disease.
Her mother-in-law is a resident of the long-term care home in West Park, where at least 13 people died from COVID-19 on Thursday.
Province Announces Rent Reduction For Small Businesses
Ford also announced on Friday that the province is partnering with the federal government to help homeowners and small businesses affected by the pandemic.
The province has announced that it is committing $ 241 million through the new Ontario and Canada Commercial Rent Emergency Assistance Program (OCECRA) to help provide relief.
The program will make repayable loans to eligible commercial property owners experiencing rent deficits because their small business tenants have been affected by the pandemic, according to a statement released on Friday.
To receive the loan, homeowners would have to reduce the rental costs of small business tenants from April to June 2020 by at least 75% and commit to a moratorium on evictions for three months, according to the province.
"The vast majority of small businesses and homeowners in Ontario are struggling during this extraordinary public health emergency," said Ford in a statement. "This is why we are doing everything we can to support them during these difficult economic times, so that they can start on the ground when we are able to open up the provincial economy. "
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Traditionally, we all used to hang hammocks between trees, but did you know you don't need trees to enjoy an exciting afternoon at the beach or when you are out camping or backpacking? It might not be something most people have heard of but all you need in two strong points where you can tie your hammock straps and your hammock. The firm points offer the same functions the trees. With that said, are you looking at how to hang a hammock without trees? Let's look at six options for hammock camping without trees.
If you are looking for the best hammock tarps, check our previous review below.
The first option when it comes to how to hang a hammock without trees has to be posts in concrete. Posts are almost everywhere. They can be fence posts or a set of posts you have set up for the sole purpose of hanging your hammock. These strong stands act as great places to hang hammocks without the need of trees. But before you hang, ensure the post you choose are strong enough and big enough to support your weight.
For example, when choosing the fence posts, make sure they are set up in concrete. Concrete makes the fence post stable to hold your weight after you install the hammock. Also, determine the height of the posts to make sure your equipment will be above the ground after hanging it. When installing the post with concrete, follow all the instructions from the manufacturer. Mix the right ratio of materials to make sure they are strong enough.
One of the most common ways of hanging a hammock without using a tree is using portable stands. You can use the portable stands everywhere, including on the beach, at your backyard and also in backpacking trails with no trees in sight. Portable stands come in different shapes, types, height, and even weight. They range from ultra-light portable stands to those that you can use only in your backyard.
A good thing about these stands is that they are designed using different materials. Manufacturer use metal, wood or any other material strong enough to hold your hammock. You can set it up whenever you want. Having one is an adventurous way to enjoy a relaxing evening or a night out camping.
It is advisable to know what you need. For backpackers, they need an ultra-light, but compact one, usually because backpackers have to endure walking and hiking for long distances. An ultra-light stand serves them right. Another thing to consider is how you will assemble the hammock. Make sure it is safe, can hold your weight and easy to assemble. The question of how to hang a hammock without trees should not be an issue anymore.
The car or truck option is one of the best ideas when it comes to hanging your hammock without trees. You can use your SUV, van, truck and any other vehicle to hang your hammock. A solid roof rack is the only way to succeed. It is also essential to whether the roof of your car is stable enough. Find the weight limit of your car roof from the vehicle's manual. You also need to test the durability of the car before setting up your hammock. Exceeding the weight limit can damage it.
After you confirm the weight limit, durability and security, you need to make sure your car is in a secure place and near a stationary object like a tree. Tie hammock straps cords or ropes around your car roof rack and the other one on the nearby tree. Secure your hammock and process to enjoy a comfortable sleep. You can also use a pole a post or even a rock as a stationary object.
Your front porch can act as an excellent place to hang your hammock. The sturdy posts on your porch provide a built-support as long as the distance between them is at least 18 feet. These sturdy posts support and keep it off the ground.
You can also use your porch post with or a car. Tie your straps on the car and the other one on your porch post. Make sure the distance is safe. When tied in a good way, using porch post is a safe way to hang hammocks without the need of trees.
Posts, poles, trees or cars are not the only way to hang hammocks. You can also use a building to hang your hammock and relax in. For those who love camping, you can now enjoy camping with this hammock camping without trees method. In some camping sites, there are structure and building available. Buildings are also available in state parks and other public areas. These buildings offer you a place to hang your hammock without trees, hence giving you an enhanced level of experience.
All you need for this method is a building and a sturdy post for support. You can also use two buildings and hang it in between the buildings. The buildings serve the same purpose as trees. However, you need to be careful when using this method. Make sure you use strong hooks for your cords. The hooks should strong enough to prevent any accidents.
Lastly, on our last choice on how to hang a hammock without trees is hammock structures. Hammock structures are vital options for hanging your hammock. The good thing about these hammock structures is that you can share with other people without spreading out too much. The hammock structures are also available in colleges, public place, apartment buildings, and state parks. The people managing these places guarantee your safety if you decide to use the structures. Most of them are strong enough to support your weight.
Hammock camping without trees gives you the freedom to camp anywhere at any time of the day or night. It also gives you a wider range of freedom to choose the best locations and pick a safer place to camp. There are a number of options you need to keep in mind. Whether you are camping, backpacking or just relaxing in your backyard in a hammock, keep them in mind. You hardly need trees to enjoy a great camping experience. Two strong ends is all you need. It can be a car and a stationary object, two posts, porch post or buildings.


A version of the adhesive patch—no thicker than a human hair—is currently being tested by L'Oreal to help consumers track their sun exposure.
PCH, a designer of custom product solutions, is manufacturing and marketing a thin adhesive patch that employs Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID and photosensitive dye to help users track their exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. L'Oréal plans to market the tattoo-like devices, developed by Massachusetts-based startup MC10, under the brand name My UV Patch. The skin patch is currently being trialed in beta form, says Emily Stephens, L'Oréal's corporate communications director, and is expected to be rolled out more widely later this year, when it will be made available at select dermatologist offices and Women's Dermatological Society skin-check events, as well as via certain retailers.
PCH, which maintains corporate headquarters in Cork, Ireland, and operational headquarters in Shenzhen, China, is also taking MC10's Wearable Interactive Stamp Platform (WiSP) system to markets beyond beauty and health care. Because the flexible patch comes with a built-in NFC chip, PCH reports, it can serve a variety of purposes, and the company is now in conversations with several customers that could use it for payments or identification in such applications as music festivals, theme parks and cruise lines. What make WiSP unique, according to PCH and MC10, are its thin form factor and its ability to be affixed to a user's skin. The system can be used for various transactions, such as proving a person's identity at an entrance gate, or making a payment without requiring plastic ID cards, credit cards or a mobile phone.
L'Oréal's My UV skin patch contains an NFC RFID inlay, along with a layer of dye that changes color upon exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
"PCH will design, engineer and manufacture the [WiSP] product to meet the requirements and market needs of other brands interested in the smart stamp platform," says Andre Yousefi, a co-founder of PCH Lime Lab, PCH's design engineering division. "We already have interest from several major third-party brands who are looking to create an engaging consumer experience using this technology platform."
MC10, which developed the underlying NFC and sensor technology, was founded in 2008 by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor John Rogers, in order to commercialize his work developing stretchable, wearable biometric sensors in the school's lab. The patches he developed, with built-in electronics, were designed to be flexible.
"Electronic technology, traditionally rigid and bulky, was now able to flex, twist and stretch to match the properties of the human body," says Ben Schlatka, MC10's co-founder and VP of corporate development. "We have found that the application that has the most promise, and that will do the most good, is in the health-care sector. We have devoted our resources to the mission of expanding the knowledge of human health."
To that end, MC10 also offers wearable sensor patches known as BioStamps, though these do not come with NFC technology. Neither MC10 nor PCH has immediate plans to make a patch that integrates the NFC inlay with a sensor so that the sensor data can be uploaded directly to an NFC-enabled smartphone.
The My UV Patch adheres directly to a person's skin and monitors the amount of UV radiation to which it—and, therefore, the wearer's skin—is exposed. The adhesive patch measures approximately 1 square inch and is 50 microns thick (half the width of an average strand of hair). The patch has a heart-shaped design and is filled with various shades of blue and white squares, which contain photosensitive dye. It can act as a "second skin," the company explains, and can be worn for up to five days, even while a person is swimming, showering or playing sports. As the photosensitive dyes within the patch are exposed to UV rays, squares of color will change to indicate varying levels of sun exposure, while others will remain unchanged to provide a baseline comparison, factoring in an individual's unique skin tone.


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Bosideng (), officially Bosideng International Holdings Limited (), is the largest down clothing company in the PRC. It has 7,579 retail outlets selling down clothing under its six core brands including Bosideng, Snow Flying, Kangbo, Bengen (previously known as Bingjie), Shuangyu and Shangyu. Through these brands, the group offers a wide range of clothing products targeting various consumer segments.

Overview
According to the China Industrial Information Issuing Center (CIIIC), in terms of sales in 2010, Bosideng, Snow Flying, Kangbo and Bengen down clothing products achieved a combined market share of 36.7% in the PRC. "Bosideng" was the leading down clothing brand in the PRC for 16 consecutive years from 1995 to 2010, according to CIIIC and the National Bureau of Statistics of China. The group introduced, for 15 consecutive years, the latest fashionable Fall/Winter clothing trends to the world on behalf of the PRC at the "China International Clothing and Accessories Fair".

Products
To further optimize its product mix and increase profitability, the group has adopted a "non-seasonal product" development strategy. Currently, the non-down clothing products of the Group include Bosideng MAN, BOSIDENG RICCI lady's wears casual wear and D.D. Cat kids wear, VETALLO high-class menswear and the franchise project of ROCAWEAR in the greater China region. The Bosideng menswear business developed rapidly and has already set up 979 retail outlets throughout China, while the franchise project of ROCAWEAR in the greater China region has opened 7 consignment counters in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Apart from investing in the continuous development of the above non-down clothing businesses, the group is actively exploring opportunities to merge and acquire non-down clothing brands with high development potential and good reputation in order to further increase the proportion of non-down clothing business in total sales.

External links

Bosideng Official Website
Custom Soccer Jerseys & Uniforms
NBA Jerseys & Hardwood Classics Jerseys

Chinese brands
Clothing brands
Clothing companies of China
Companies based in Shanghai
Clothing companies established in 1975
Clothing brands of China
Chinese companies established in 1975
Privately held companies of China
Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: How to Find Exact Path of File on Webserver Is it possible to know the Exact Path of the File on the Server. For example this URL  http://www.hdfcsec.com/Research/ResearchDetails.aspx?report_id=2987918 resolves to a PDF. How to determine the direct location to the PDF file ? Any tools like network connection traces or pointers to find the same is appreciated.
Thanks.

A: Short of examining the actual source of ResearchDetails.aspx and figuring out where it takes its file from, no. Server-side scripts (and non-script binaries) can handle the request in any way they need and produce any data. There are cases where PDFs are dynamically generated by scripts and do not exist as actual files at all.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home > Books & Publications > MAINE & NEW ENGLAND LITERATURE & FICTION > COME SPRING
COME SPRING BY BEN AMES WILLIAMS
COME SPRING
Item# ISBN_978-0-9678716-0-8
The historical novel usually concerns itself with persons who have made a major imprint on their times and on the minds of posterity. They are written about generals and statesmen and kings and queens. But for every general there were ten thousand soldiers, and for every king or queen there were multitudes of subjects. An historical novel may as justly deal with the lives of people who were important not individually but in the mass. This novel tells the story of the founding of a small Maine town, by ordinary people, in what then was an ordinary way. It was the way in which towns were founded from the Atlantic seaboard west to the great plains, by stripping off the forest and putting the land to work. These people were not as important as the founders of the country, nor was the town they founded as important as New York. But people like them made this country, and towns like Union, Maine, were and are the soil in which this country's roots are grounded. 866 Pgs Paperback


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Greenwood begins redevelopment of former school property
Greenwood is moving forward on plans to preserve and repurpose the gymnasium located on the 19-acre former Greenwood Middle School property. The Greenwood Redevelopment Commission has reviewed initial plans for stabilization and selective demolition of the school – excluding the gymnasium – which will serve as a starting point for a new downtown fieldhouse.
Demolition is anticipated to cost approximately $1.1 million, and city officials have already begun planning and design of the future fieldhouse. The project begins redevelopment of the property, which Greenwood purchased in 2017.
"We've reached a major milestone in our efforts to revitalize Old Town Greenwood," Mayor Mark W. Myers said.
"Infrastructure improvements surrounding the former middle school property are already underway, but this is the first project to redevelop the actual site.
"To attract residents, businesses and visitors to the city's core, we must continue to invest in a diverse array of public amenities that improve our quality of life. Greenwood is already seeing a return on previous investments, and this project will continue downtown's tremendous momentum."
The fieldhouse follows a number of recently completed projects to redevelop Old Town Greenwood, including a modernized community center, amphitheater park upgrades, trail additions, a new nature center and the addition of more than 170 new parking spaces. Citing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the heart of the city for current and future generations, Myers last year revealed a vision for the future of downtown Greenwood. Current and future projects planned for in and around the former middle school property include:
• 1.9 miles of new or reconstructed streetscape.
• 9.9 acres of new or upgraded open space.
• 75,000-plus square feet of potential retail/office space.
• Proposed construction of 450-plus apartments and 130-plus townhomes.
"This is Greenwood's moment," Myers said. "Our plans for the future of downtown are creating a thriving city core that is walkable and connected to trails, parks and dynamic public gathering spaces. We'll have diverse, authentic amenities, seamless integration of greenspace and opportunities for all ages to live, work and play in.
Sports: 500
Sports: Basketball
Sports: Track


We don't often have any stories about football in Northern Ireland. Glentoran is one of the best known teams there, even more so when Matty Burrows was recently up for the FIFA Goal of the Year award. He didn't get it, but his amazing back flick was widely viewed on the internet. Moreover, it wasn't a fluke, as he showed in a demonstration session.
The financial crisis in Ireland has hit the country's Football Association hard. Twelve staff have been redundant and others are going to have to take pay cuts of 2.5 or 5 per cent. The Association undertook the re-development of Lansdowne Road when the country's economic was booming. However, they have had to discount seats at international fixtures and attendances have been disappointing.
A big story in the financial pages in the past week has been the state of the Irish economy and whether it can continue to fund its debts given the state of some of the country's banks in the aftermath of the collapse of the 'Celtic Tiger' boom. These concerns extend to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) which has debts of €50m, although it made a profit of €5m last year and insists it is on track to pay them all off by 2020.
Football in England has come through the recession relatively unscathed. There have been some spectacular collapses, not least at Portsmouth, but these are arguably more the result of poor management than the condition of the game as a whole. There have been some losses of corporate hospitality revenue and season ticket sales have fallen. The transfer market this summer was more subdued, although still quiet resilient. On the whole, football, particularly at the highest level, has been remarkably recession proof.
Cork City has become the latest Eircom League of Ireland club to face financial problems. In a season that has already seen Cobh Rangers, Sligo Rovers, Galway United and Kildrae County facing serious problems, the situation at Cork is worrying for the League of Ireland as a whole. Cork City is one of the biggest and best supported teams in the league, so its fate will be a warning for the rest of the clubs, that no team is safe from financial difficulties. 'It's hard to understand, I can't get my head around it,' admitted Fran Gavin, director of the Eircom League.


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"Identify As": Identity and Othering in Communities Experiencing Marginalization
KT Venti, BA (They, Them)
At Feminuity, we've often used "identifies as" as a gentle way to introduce descriptions of identities that varied from what was familiar to the audiences we were addressing. We've similarly used it as a method of inclusion. Irrespective of the opinions of others, we brought vital identities into findings so they can serve as a small means of validation. Initially, the intention (including everyone) was good, regardless of societal norms and expectations.
However, now, instead of being a gentle way to introduce identities that differ from what people are familiar with, it has, for some, become a way to other people. "Identifies as" has morphed into a way of differentiating between what's viewed as the 'norm' and what's not. When people use "identifies as" to describe an identity, they often apply it disproportionately to racialized people, LGBQ+ people, trans people, people with accessibility needs, and other communities experiencing marginalization. It can create a two-tier identity system, where identities that hold more power and privilege over others are deemed objective and real, while others are considered objectionable and niche.
Using gender as an example, a cisgender man is rarely described as identifying as a man. In contrast, his agender colleague is often disclaimed to others with the remark "that person identifies as agender." In this instance, the cisgender man's gender is rarely questioned or the subject of scrutiny; he gets to just be. However, his agender colleague has their gender referenced in hushed conversations that stop when they enter the room. They are the "other" who is expected to educate others, communicate for, and represent a diverse group of agender people whose lived experiences with gender widely vary from their own.
Both the term "identifies as" and "self-identified" may be ways of covertly suggesting that a person's identities are somehow less valid. When we talk about communities experiencing marginalization and their genuine and lived-in identities with a caveat—while everyone else's personhood goes unquestioned, intelligible, and known—we risk reproducing dangerous cycles of exclusion.
Both the term "identifies as" and "self-identified" may be ways of covertly suggesting that a person's identities are somehow less valid.
If we aim to co-create spaces where everyone can feel included, affirmed, and witnessed, we must celebrate people on their terms. Being inclusive requires us to reflect on today's social injustices, imagine a better world, and work to bring that future to fruition.
If we aim to co-create spaces where everyone can feel included, affirmed, and witnessed, we must celebrate people on their terms.
Language evolves; it changes and grows to better suit how we need to describe the world around us. Likewise, our perceptions of the language we use must evolve; we must be critical of ourselves and question why we ask the things we ask and why we use the language we use. Communication of inner thoughts, feelings, and beliefs is vital to interacting with others and our world. Language matters profoundly, and what we choose to say requires care and attention.
Understanding the impact of language on people is critical to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) advocates and professionals. Active allyship means taking the lead from impacted communities. Allyship must be coupled with a commitment not only to suspend whatever reductive idea of "normal" we hold in our hearts, but to question the very notion of normalcy. We need to shift into an empathetic mindset where we are open to evolution and ready to become a catalyst in a world where people don't have to "identify as." They just are.
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Feminuity was founded on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples and is home to many First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples.
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Our work began on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. As a remote team, we encourage our clients, partners, and each other to reflect on colonialism's enduring legacy and engage in active reconciliation.