Over Population Essay -- essays research papers

The number of inhabitants in our planet will rapidly arrive at a point where there won't be sufficient measure of assets to help life on Earth. Populace control must be upheld to keep away from such a disastrous event. Numerous financial, social and ecological issues are either subsidiary with or are expanded because of overpopulation. With an exponentially expanding total populace, the issues made by overpopulation develop correspondingly. So as to balance out the gigantic populace, the world must cooperate to keep up populace dependability. One of the primary reasons is because of the way that Man treats his environmental factors, for instance like his property, his condition, his climate, his waters and other life shapes as only items. Man uses, devastates and disposes of them when he’s finish. In the event that Man doesn't regard his planet, there will be nothing left with the exception of a dead, fruitless no man's land. We should act soon or even better, presently. The e arth needs more assets to gracefully the current colossal populace development. In numerous territories, there is just insufficient food to take care of the developing populaces. 150 million kids on the planet experience the ill effects of unexpected frailty because of food deficiencies. Close by with food, there is another asset that can't stay aware of the expanding populace, that is water. Our gracefully of new water is basic to life and constrained. Eventhough, our earth is secured with 2/3 of water and 1/3 land, changing over salt water to new water can be costly. In additi...

Wealth Disparity in the United States :: essays research papers

Riches in the United States has consistently been inconsistent scattered among African Americans and whites, in any event, going back to the 1800’s. African Americans own less property, are less instructed, and are in a lower financial class than whites. Approaches since the 1960’s have been executed in the United States, for example, government assistance, to help diminish the hole between the two, yet the proof recommends that these arrangements have not attempted to their latent capacity.      Furthermore, the inquiry that the creator is attempting to answer is the thing that should be possible to help reduce the riches hole between African Americans and whites. The creator sees governmental policy regarding minorities in society, business proprietorship among blacks, yet generally speaking spotlights the majority of his consideration on home and property possession.      The creator recommends that to accomplish the objective of racial and class fairness, an approach needs to depend on financial status, however particularly consider a person’s resources. Whites own generously more property than blacks, which makes a huge hole in resources among blacks and whites. While numerous blacks need to live in coordinated neighborhoods, white neighborhoods don't need their property estimation declining, so subsequently white flight follows. The creator proposes to have an arrangement that ensures that dark possession in a local won't top 15 percent, so whites would be less inclined to leave. Likewise, numerous impetuses have been proposed to help the poor addition flourishing, for example, a national riches charge. This duty would make people survey their benefits and liabilities, and afterward people would be required to pay the administration a level of that total assets.

How Self-Report Inventories Are Used in Psychology

How Self-Report Inventories Are Used in Psychology Theories Personality Psychology Print How Self-Report Inventories Are Used in Psychology By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on October 04, 2019 Tetra Images / Getty Images More in Theories Personality Psychology Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Behavioral Psychology Cognitive Psychology Developmental Psychology Social Psychology Biological Psychology Psychosocial Psychology A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test often used in personality assessment. This type of test is often presented in a paper-and-pencil format or may even be administered on a computer. A typical self-report inventory presents a number of questions or statements that may or may not describe certain qualities or characteristics of the test subject. Chances are good that you have taken a self-report inventory at some time in the past. Such questionnaires are often seen in doctors’ offices, in online personality tests, and in market research surveys. Even the fun quizzes you often see shared on Facebook are examples of self-report inventories. While this is an example of these inventories being used in an informal and entertaining way, such surveys can and do serve much more serious goals in collecting data and helping to identify potential problems. This type of survey can be used to look at your current behaviors, past behaviors and possible behaviors in hypothetical situations. There are many different self-report inventories. The following are just a few well-known examples. The MMPI-2 Perhaps the most famous self-report inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). This personality test was first published in the 1940s, later revised in the 1980s and is today known as the MMPI-2. The test contains more than 500 statements that assess a wide variety of topics including interpersonal relationships, abnormal behaviors, and psychological health as well as political, social, religious, and sexual attitudes.?? The 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire Another well-known example of a self-report inventory is the questionnaire developed by Raymond Cattell to assess individuals based on his trait theory of personality.?? This test is used to generate personality profile of the individual and is often used to evaluate employees and to help people select a career. California Personality Inventory California personality inventory is based on the MMPI, from which nearly half questions are drawn. The test is designed to measure such characteristic as self-control, empathy, and independence.?? Strengths and Weaknesses of Self-Report Inventories Self-report inventories are often a good solution when researchers need to administer a large number of tests in relatively short space of time. Many self-report inventories can be completed very quickly, often in as little as 15 minutes. This type of questionnaire is an affordable option for researchers faced with tight budgets. Another strength is that the results of self-report inventories are generally much more reliable and valid than projective tests. Scoring of the tests a standardized and based on norms that have been previously established. However, self-report inventories do have their weaknesses. For example, while many tests implement strategies to prevent faking good or faking bad (essentially pretending to be better or worse that one really is), research has shown that people are able to exercise deception while taking self-report tests.?? Another weakness is that some tests are very long and tedious. For example, the MMPI takes approximately 3 hours to complete. In some cases, test respondents may simply lose interest and not answer questions accurately. Additionally, people are sometimes not the best judges of their own behavior. Some individuals may try to hide their own feelings, thoughts, and attitudes.??

Discount Rate Changes Impacting On Stock Market Return - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 15 Words: 4427 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? CHAPTER 1 Stock market plays an important role in the economic development of a country. Stock exchange performance has attained significant role in global economics and financial markets, due to their impact on corporate finance and economic activity. For instance stock exchanges enable firms to acquire capital quickly, due to the ease with which securities are traded. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Discount Rate Changes Impacting On Stock Market Return" essay for you Create order Stock exchange activity, thus, plays an important role in helping to determine the effects of macroeconomic activities. Stock market returns are the returns that the investors generate out of the stock market; it can be in the form of dividends or profits, as a company gets its dividends and profits in the form of their share holders in the secondary market. Well there is a definite change in the market as with the behavior changes with the discount rate, changes can be technical or non-technical. Technical changes refers to the internal changes and non-technical as external changes which are mostly related to the behavior and response of the customers and consumers. Equity returns also measured by the industrial index respond rather rapidly to the unexpected announcements of discount rate changes. Not only affecting equity returns, the unexpected discount rate changes also contribute to higher market volatility. An unexpected discount rate change also induces trading which is mor e supportive of the contention that public information causes price changes with trading. Increased trading volume due to unexpected public information, however, occurs only in the current period. Whenever, the market is not efficient, stock prices adjust to new information slowly and it is possible to generate abnormal profits. Financial market volatility is important for investors confidence, for port-folio selection, and for the pricing of both primary and derivative securities. Market volatility is not related to existing public information such as expected discount rate change announcements. Karachi Stock Exchange 100 IndexÂÂ  (KSE-100 Index) is aÂÂ  stock indexÂÂ  acting as a standard to compare prices on theÂÂ  Karachi Stock ExchangeÂÂ  (KSE) over a period of time. In formative representative companies to calculate the index on, companies with the maximumÂÂ  market capitalizationÂÂ  are selected. On the other hand, to ensure maximum marke t representation, the company with the maximum market capitalization from each sector is also incorporated.. 1.2 Problem Statement To study the impact of discount rate changes on stock market return 1.3 Research Hypothesis: The expected discount rate change announcements have impact on stock market return. 1.4 Outline of the Study The aim of the study is to observe Impact of Discount rate Changes on Stock Market Return. This Study is observing on Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). TheÂÂ  Karachi Stock ExchangeÂÂ  is aÂÂ  stock exchangeÂÂ  situated inÂÂ  Karachi,ÂÂ  Pakistan, established on 18 September, 1947 it started with 5 companies with a capital of Rs. 37 million. It is Pakistans biggest and oldest stock exchange, with a lot of Pakistani as well as overseas listings. Its present premises are placed on Stock Exchange Road, in the heart of Karachis Business District. KSE starts with a 50 shares index. As the market develops a representative index was needed. In poor political condition, social issues, financial and other problems, KSE played a very important role in the financial system of Pakistan. KSE 100-index showed a return of 40.19% and became the sixth best markets in the year 2007. It gets a biggest milestone by touching of KSE-100 Index level of 15,000 for the foremost ti me in the history of Karachi stock exchange on 20 April, 2008. On the other hand, the raise of 7.4 percent in 2008 build-up the best performer in all the emerging market. The KSE 100TM Index closed at 9645 points on 19 June, 2010. Although by 30th July total market capitalisation of the KSE reached Rs2.95 trillion, approximately around 35 billion dollars CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW As it can be figured out by the models of stock market and about the interest rates, value of share in the stock market, maturity of the bonds with short run and long run and the value of the capital as well as the factor of production, All these things influence a great deal towards the changes as well as the demand and supply model. Equilibrium is also there, which is basically an intersection, the point where the quantity of supply equal to the quantity demands. Output and interest rates plays a bigger role in the discount changes, as from the different policies, laws and models have been mentioned in the previous studies. If prices are fixed country can never faced inflation because of the nominal and real rates. Output depends on the stock market and fiscal policy (Blume, 1994). The stock market is the ratio of steady-state profit to the steady-state interest rate. If the money increases in the market the steady-state effects are quite clear, Output and stock market are hig her in the equilibrium. The higher money stock lowers the real interest rate and thus the cost of capital. This was all about a monetary expansion under fixed price. We find that in the pre-79 period, there was no securities market response to either technical or nontechnical changes, while in the post-79 period there was no response to technical changes (Hardouvelis and Gikas, 1987). Discount rate changes will affect market rate and equity returns if such changes brings information about either short- or long- run monetary policy objectives. So an in increase in the discount will definitely help to attract more and more people towards the policy, and there will be a huge amount of change in the customers and clients response towards it. As a result, current (spot) and expected short-term rates rise in reaction to reduced short-run money growth. Long-term rates and forward rates may also increase to reflect the higher expected short-term rates. It doesnt have much impact over the long-term rates as it has on short-term rates just because the monetary policy and consumers response (Maberly, 1992). Short term rates makes more people attractive and kind of working well for the secondary markets, so mostly they all rely on the short-term rates, as they prefer short-term rates than long-term rates. And short-term is the one which affect a great deal. The impact of discount rate changes on equity prices can operate through two possible channels. This is most readily seen by viewing the value of the firm as the present value of its future net cash flows. To some extent discount rate increases (decreases) result in increases (decreases) in interest rates. It has also based on the capital or investment as well, capital can fall or rise just because of the stock prices, stock prices has an ultimate effect on capital and economic activity can be disturbed too, that also can be altered due to this price change. If the capitalization rates and cash flow expectation a re affected by discount rate changes, these effects will also work in the same direction. From previous studies we have an idea that stock prices declines to be associated with discount rate increases (Ederington and Lee, 1993). Considering the New York stock exchange, the stock return data are the daily percentage return on the New York Stock Exchange value-weighted index and is denoted SP. The interest rate data are for constant maturity Treasury securities and include eight different maturities: 90-, 180-, and 360-day bills and three-, five-, seven-, ten-, and twenty-year bonds. These rates are obtained from DRI, who compile them from the Federal Reserve Board Statistical Release from DRI. These eight interests are used to calculate seven forward rates in addition to the 90-day bill rate. The stock price coefficient for the post-79 period suggests a 1 percent increase (decrease) in the discount rate will result in a decline (increase) of 1.06 percent in stock prices. A similar finding in reported for the interest rate data. Only one interest rate series evidences a significant market reaction in the pre-79 period, while six of the eight interest rates indicate a significant market response over the post-79 period (Gerety, and Mulherin, 1992). Although the early researches result indicates that the real issue is whether the observed announcement effect, regardless of the monetary policy regime, indicates market inefficiency. In classification of the discount rate changes from the previous discussion we have evaluated that to assess properly the announcement effects of discount rate changes, it is necessary to distinguish technical from nontechnical changes. There are several short comings with this approach that limit its usefulness in predicting discount rate changes and cast substantial doubt on the assumption of discount rate erogeneity (Lee and Bong, 1992). Researches rely on two different methods to classify discount rate changes. The best mode l, both in terms of in-sample fit and prediction of actual discount rate changes, related changes in the discount rate (measured in basis points) to the spread between the Fed Funds rate and the discount rate. Nonetheless, if the model incorporates the relevant information set, then by construction the forecast and optimal predictions based on available information and, therefore, rational. Through the study of different modules we came on to know in conclusion that the purpose of this has been to reconcile previous findings of both an endogenous discount rate and discount rate announcement effects with market efficiency (Harris, 1986). By classifying discount rate changes as either technical or non-technical, and recognizing that the latter are (at least) partially endogenous, it is argued that, within the framework of market efficiency, the discount rate can fail tests of statistical erogeneity and still exhibit announcement effects. The empirical evidence of this paper support s this view and suggests that previous studies were missing specified by not controlling for the purpose of discount rate change. The evidence also implies that the common assumption contained in virtually all theoretical and empirical macroeconomic models, that the discount rate is either purely endogenous or purely exogenous, is inappropriate. This also specifies market only react when there appears to be a shift in policy- in the discount rate. At least from this standpoint, one cannot rule out the discount rate as a useful tool of monetary policy. Eventually, our results support the existence of efficient markets based on the dual findings that only nontechnical changes are characterized by announcement effects and that virtually the entire market adjustments occurs by the end of the announcement day (Jones, 1994). From previous studies the issue of monetary neutrality has long been debated by financial economists. There was evidence been brought in to the market which says t hat increases in the growth rate of money raises stock returns? Monetary policy affects the real economy, and whether its effects are quantitatively important, remain open questions. These questions by examining the effects of monetary policy innovations on stock return data. Theory posits that stock prices equal the expected present value of future net cash flows. To examine the relationship between monetary policy and stock returns, a variety of empirical techniques are employed. The size portfolios are useful for investigating why monetary policy matters, if in fact it does. If monetary policy has real effects, one reason for this could be that it affects firms balance sheets. To investigate whether monetary policy affects size and industry portfolios, both impulse responses and innovation accounting methods are used. All the results in table one to four measures the effects of monetary policy shocks on nominal stock returns. In considering the question of monetary neutrality, we are interested in whether monetary policy affects real stock returns. Thus rather than complicate the analysis by considering the best way to measure expected inflation we focus on results using nominal returns. Through the different systems results reported are robust to minor changes in the specification. When total reserves are dropped, employment growth or unemployment is used instead of industrial production growth, the non stationary variables are first-differenced, and the number of lags is changed (Marshall and David, 1992). There was another approach to identifying monetary shocks is Data and Methodology which is been made to the use of Federal Reserve statements and other historical documents over the period to identify exogenous changes in monetary policy and the responses of real variables. This narrative approach has recently employed to assemble a much larger sample of monetary policy shocks. An alternative way is used to test whether monetary policy affects stock returns (Morse, 1981). A growing number of papers in both the economics and finance literature focus on the effect of economic news on asset returns. Nonetheless, there seems a wide gap between these two literatures. These elements of surprise in one particular type of news announcements of short-term interest rate decisions made by the Open Market Committee affect the volatility of the stock market in the short term. Relationship between monetary policy and daily stock market volatility from two vantage points: days around regularly scheduled meetings of the stock market committee, the main monetary policy making body and days of actual policy decisions involving the target level of the federal funds rate (Fama and Kenneth, 1995). Turning to the days of actual policy decisions regardless of whether they were announced on regularly scheduled meetings days. Some evidence was found that such decisions tend to boost volatility in the stock market. The effect of policy decisions i s greatest that exclude those decisions that were fully anticipated by market. Besides identifying monetary policy announcements as an important source of short-run volatility in the stock market, this will also addresses broader issues in the finance literature. In particular, higher interest rates induce higher leverage ratios, which in turn increase the risk associated with holding stocks and the volatility of stock returns (Patell and Wolfson, 1984). In examining the relationship between the stock market and fiscal policy, all models combined two different approaches widely used in the monetary economics and finance literature. In particular, in analyzing the markets response to scheduled and unscheduled announcements, a potentially interesting issue is whether the corresponding impulse response functions for volatility are significantly different. Other issues that also merit further consideration include a closer look at the relationship between first- and second- moment re sponses to policy news and the explicit analysis of risk premiums around announcements days (Penman, 1987). From all these models and theories, have come to know that anything that happens in the secondary market, it does have an impact over the entire economy as we have gone through from the different examples across the world. Even if it is pre-announcement, monetary policy or whatever, stock market does change its state according to the circumstances and events. Pre-announcements are also made as precautions that are for safety announcements for the share holders of the companies. Due to this they can easily draw their amount and will not have to see further more difficulties. Unpredictability or volatility is always there in the market, when the investors just to keep on guessing for the right time to invest and stock holders wait for the right time to buy shares of the companies and all this process makes things more complicated especially for the investors and then it effec ts the stock market. Monetary policy on the other hand takes things more attractive for the investors and share holders that they believe their money is in safe place so they would love to invest as long as they are sure about the monetary policy (Stoll and Whaley, 1990). Policies are always made for the betterment of the people who are your clients or customers as per organization requirements, it also refers to the trust that how much they trust on their policies that people could come and invest. Banks do the same thing; the only thing they sell is trust, because as many people trust on you as they will go on to be their customers. Many of the sources indicate that there is a connection between news and stock prices, finance literature highlights that too. The finance literature focus on economic announcements per se, without controlling for the element of surprise in such announcements, might help to explain why so many studies have failed to find a significant link between m arket volatility and economic news. Either by implicitly assuming that the conditional volatility of stock returns is time invariant or by simply leaving its time-varying nature unspecified, monetary economists have failed to consider a potentially significant effect of policy surprises on the short-run behavior of the market (Wood and McInish, 1985). Equity returns also measured by the industrial index respond rather rapidly to the unexpected announcements of discount rate changes. Not only affecting equity returns, the unexpected discount rate changes also contribute to higher market volatility. An unexpected discount rate change also induces trading which is more supportive of the contention that public information causes price changes with trading. Increased trading volume due to unexpected public information, however, occurs only in the current period. Whenever, the market is not efficient, stock prices adjust to new information slowly and it is possible to generate abnormal profits. Financial market volatility is important for investors confidence, for port-folio selection, and for the pricing of both primary and derivative securities. Market volatility is not related to existing public information such as expected discount rate change announcements (Richard Roll and Stephen Ross, 1986). CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHOD This chapter explains the methodology used for the research study. The main research data set is used in this paper consist of KSE 100 index listed on Karachi Stock Exchange. It is the data for last ten years 2000 to 2010 for every monetary policy has been announced Data would be collected through the website and business recorder website. This chapter also discusses the methods to evaluate validity and reliability of research for the factors associated with the Impact of Discount rate Changes on Stock Market Return. 3.1 Method of data collection: The secondary data which was used in this research was available on the website of Karachi Stock Exchange from 2000 to 2010. 3.2 Sample size and Sampling Technique: In this research, data from the year 2000 to 2010 has been taken as a sample size. The data collected through Karachi Stock Market and State Bank of Pakistan 3.3 Instrument of Data Collection: This research was carried out through Secondary Data. 3.4 Statistical tool used: In order to measure the relationship between the variables stock market return and discount rate and impact of discount rate change on stock market return, Regression is used as a statistical tool in this research. SPSS software is used to evaluate the relationship between the two variables CHAPTER 4 RESULTS Hypothesis Testing Ho: The expected discount rate changes announcements have impact on stock market return. Table 4.1 From the above Durbin Watson value, it has been clarified that there was an existence of auto correlation in the data set. In order to resolve the issue we have generated the lag variables of the dependent variable up to the level 2. Table 4.2 Form the above table we can observe the value of the Adjusted R Square is .934 or 93.4%. It means that 1 unit change in the set of independent variables brings out the 93.4% change in the variation of dependent variable. With the inclusion of the lag variables in the data set, the problem auto correlation has been resolved. The Durbin Watson value mentioned in the above table is 1.964 closer to 2. Value closer to 2 means that there is no auto correlation exists in the data set. Table 4.3 From the above table we can observe that the significant value of the above ANOVAs test model 2 is less that 0.05. It means that the data is suitable for the application of regression model. Table 4.4 The above table shows the coefficient value of the analysis. As it can be observed that, the significant value of the discount rate is less than 0.05 it means that the change in discount rate has a significant impact on the stock therefore; the Null hypothesis is not rejected. At 95% confidence interval level the significant value of alpha/constant is 0.000 it means that the in the absence of all the variables the minimum return of the KSE is equal to the alpha value. The Beta value of lag 1 is 5376.550 it means that the today returns from the stock market is dependent on the stock market returns after the announcement of last monetary policy. For e.g. if the current stock return are equal to 1 the stock returns after the announcement of the next monetary policy is 5376.550 times of the current stock returns. The relationship of the lag 2 stock returns is vice versa of the lag 1 stock returns. It has a negative relationship with the current stock returns. Graph 4.1 The above diagram shows the trend of the KSE index and the change in discount rates for the last 10 years in the country. On a whole an upward trend has been observed in the KSE 100 index it is due to the increase in the FDI investments as well as the development in the financial sectors. The change in the discount rate shows overall a mix trend, we can observe a huge peaks and valleys in the graph. In our research, we have not found any significant relationship among the announcement of change in discount rate and stock returns. Some of these factors are political situation of the country, foreign direct investments, Law and order situation and most importantly exchange rate. Collectively, all these factors are contributing in the stock returns. However, change in the discount rate do impact the stock returns but, not in the short run, in the long run the chances are quite high that it does impact on the stock returns in Karachi Stock market. The reason behind the Long term affect is that, the change in the discount rate affects the profitability of the companies in the next coming quarters so, immediately the affect in the stock returns are not massive that are in the long run. 4.2 Hypotheses Assessment Summary The hypotheses of this research study are based on variables like stock market return and discount rate intraday. The significant value is less than 0.05 It means that the data is suitable for the application of regression model. S.NO. Hypotheses T SIG. RESULT H1 the expected discount rate changes announcement have impact on stock market return. 11.991 .000 Accepted CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS, DISCUSSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH 5.1 Conclusion As anticipated, expected discount rate changes, representing existing public information, have no impact on the trading volume for the current period nor does for any other periods. Public information also induces trading only in the current period but not in the future periods. More trading has occurred during the decreasing discount rate periods than the increasing discount rate periods as evidenced by the significant parameter. 5.2 Discussion This research shows that the change in the discount rate shows overall a mix trend, it can be observed a huge peaks and valleys in the graph. In this research there was no significant relationship found among the announcement of change in discount rate and stock returns. The reason behind this is, other than monetary policy there are lots of other factors that are contributing towards the stock returns in Karachi stock market. Some of these factors are political situation of the country, foreign direct investments, Law and order situation and most importantly exchange rate. Collectively, all these factors are contributing in the stock returns. However, change in the discount rate do impact the stock returns but, not in the short run, in the long run the chances are quite high that it does impact on the stock returns in Karachi Stock market. The reason behind the Long term affect is that, the change in the discount rate affects the profitability of the companies in the next coming q uarters so, immediately the affect in the stock returns are not massive that are in the long run. In this research it has been identified more accurately that if and when the stock market responds to the release of the discount rate change information. More importantly, studying the market volatility and trading volume sheds additional light on the information literature. Equity returns respond negatively and significantly to the unexpected announcements of discount rate changes, while the expected changes generally have no bearing on the equity returns. 5.3 Implementations For practical implementation, this research can be used to analyze the impact of Discount rate Changes on Stock Market Return as The effect of discount rate changes on stock market returns. Equity returns generally respond negatively and significantly to the unexpected announcements; however, the effect of expected changes on equity returns is insignificant. Abnormal trading volume occurs only in period. 5.4 Recommendations Pre-announcement, monetary policy or whatever, stock market does change its state according to the circumstances and events. Pre-announcements are also made as precautions that are for safety announcements for the share holders of the companies. Due to this they can easily draw their amount and will not have to see further more difficulties. Unpredictability or volatility is always there in the market, when the investors just to keep on guessing for the right time to invest and stock holders wait for the right time to buy shares of the companies nd all this process makes things more complicated especially for the investors and then it effects the stock market. CHAPTER 6 REFERNCES Blume, L, 1994, Market statistics and technical analysis, the role of volume. Journal of Finance, 49, 153-181. Ederington, L.H and Lee, J.H, 1993, How markets process information, News releases and volatility, Journal of Finance, 48, 1161-1191. Fama and Kenneth, 1995, Size and book-to-market factors in earnings and returns, Journal of Finance, 50, 131-156. Gerety, M.S and Mulherin, H.J, 1992, Trading halts and market activity, An analysis of volume at the open and the close, Journal of Finance, 47, 1765-1784. Harris, L, 1986, A transaction data study of weekly and intradaily patterns in stock returns, Journal of Financial Economics, 16, 99-117. Hardouvelis, Gikas, 1987, Reserves announcements and interest rates, Does monetary policy matter? Journal of Finance, 42, 407-422. Lee, Bong-Soo, 1992, Causal relations among stock returns, interest rates, real activity, and inflation, Journal of Finance, 47, 1591-1603. Maberly, E.D, 1992, Odd-lot transactions around the turn of the year, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 27, 591-604. Jones, 1994. Information, trading and volatility, Journal of Financial Economics, 36, 127-154. Morse, D, 1981, Price and trading volume reaction surrounding earnings announcements, A closer examination. Journal of Accounting Research 19, 374-383. Marshall and David, 1992, Inflation and asset returns in a monetary economy, Journal of Finance, 47, 1315-1342. Penman, S.H, 1987, The distribution of earnings news over time and seasonalities in aggregate stock returns, Journal of Financial Economics, 18, 199-228. Patell, J.M and Wolfson, M.A, 1984, The intraday speed of adjustment of stock prices to earnings and dividend announcements, Journal of Financial Economics 13, 223-252. Richard Roll, and Stephen Ross, 1986, Economic forces and the stock market, Journal of Business, 59, 383-403. Stoll and Whaley, 1990, The dynamics of stock index and stock index futures returns, Journal of Financia l and Quantitative Analysis, 25, 441-468. Wood, and McInish, 1985, An investigation of transaction data for NYSE stocks, Journal of Finance 60, 723-739.

Analytical Analysis Of Community Health Assessment

Analytical Summary of Community Health Assessment Introduction Community health assessment is a process of systematic identifying and examining health indicators in a defined population. The purpose of this community health assessment is to gather and analyze information about health status, factors that can have an influence on community members’ health, and needs of the population within the target community. The collected data allow comparing the health status and needs of the residents in the Newmarket Health Centre (NHC) and residents in surrounding neighbourhood with the local health care services and resources available for them, which will help to identify health inequities among community members (Goodman, 2014).The main goal of this community health assessment is the strategic development of solutions to the identified health needs in a community. Data Collection Methods Community health assessment of Newmarket Health Centre and Newmarket neighbourhood community is a collaborative process where qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used together. To categorize demographic trend with respect to older adults living in Newmarket, Statistics Canada website was used to gather quantitative data. To gather qualitative data, several different methods were used such as: 1. Four windshield surveys were conducted by walking and driving around the NHC on different days and at different times to observe and analyze surrounding physical environment of theShow MoreRelatedA Brief Note On Guinea Worm Eradication ( Group 7 )1477 Words   |  6 PagesPostal 2: Guinea Worm Eradication (Group 7): The condition for the commissioning setting was a supposed guinea worm outbreak that has been reported in three Local Government Areas of Akoko town in Ondo State Nigeria by the State’s Ministry of Health among people aged 6-46 years. 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Impact on Development The developmental theme included reviews of four articles, each with a slightly different focus. In a paper researching the racial/ethnic

The Effect of Black Power on the Emergence of Yellow Power

The Sixties In America (AMST 1200) Professor Osman November 18, 2013 The Effect of Black Power on the Emergence of Yellow Power African-Americans were not alone in the shift to â€Å"ethnic power.† Other minority groups also shifted from the fight for integration and began to adopt the rhetoric of ethnic power and pride in the late 1960’s. By the late 1960’s, a host of other groups began to adopt the rhetoric of â€Å"power†: Red Power, Grey Power, Pink Power, Brown Power, etc. What were the similarities and differences between the rhetoric of Chicano Power, Yellow Power and Black Power? The 1960s in America brought a host of movements that pushed for equality, power, and change. Each movement helped to shape and effect the other†¦show more content†¦Although Asian Americans did not face as much racism as the African Americans in the late 1960s, they still felt that they needed to break out of the restraints placed on them by the white community, as the Black Power Movement pushed had for in the late 1960s. African Americans of the Black Power Movement felt that their lives were being determined and manipulated by the whites who had control over American society. In the first declaration of The Black Panther Platform, they explain, â€Å"We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community. We believe that black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.† (Bloom and Breines, 146). The members of this movement believed that whites always had power over them because African Americans were never allowed the opportunities to show their full potential without the interference of the white community. In an SNCC essay, entitled The Basis of Black Power, Stokely Carmichael proclaims that, â€Å"Negroes in this country have never been allowed to organize themselves because of white interference. As a result of this, the stereotype has been reinforced that blacks cannot organize themselves.† (Bloom and Breines, 120). The Black Power Movement believed that the only way to break free of these ties and these stereotypes was to isolate themselves from the whites, including the whites involved inShow MoreRelatedThe Role of Spices on the Expansion of Europe Essay1697 Words   |  7 Pagesachieved. This was not due to the difficulty of obtaining the certain spices but based on the occurrence that certain merchants were infatuated with profit. Obtaining the spices wasn’t as difficult as one would think even after the collapse of Roman power, since spices continued to find their way from Asia to Europe. Although many merchants priced certain spices based on their rarity. 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Hospitality Economic Uncertainty and Climate Change

Question: Discuss about theHospitalityfor Economic Uncertainty and Climate Change. Answer: The main role of the General Manager regarding the ultimate responsibility of the compliance with the present legal and the licensing requirements for the Hotel ANIBT is as follows: Liquor For the better establishment and to perpetuate a good will of the Hotel the GM must make strict rule about the consumption and selling of the liquor. In Australia the current legal age of the drinking is 18 years. The GM has to look after the matter that liquor should not be sold to the individual below the age of 18 years from their Hotel. Also all the tourists have to provide their age proof to avail the liquor and the age prove should be their passport only (Manoharan et al. 2014). If the management of the hotel does not follow the rules then there would be a risk of the cancellation of the license of the hotel to perform their business. The consequence will be that the hotel will be closed. Preparing and Selling Food Producing safe food is very essential for the success of the business of the hotels as the customers expects that the food products are safe. For the verification of the quality and safety of the food products to be exported in the markets and in other business there are certain regulation that are established by the Australian government in the Food Production (Safety) Act 2006 and the Food Production (Safety) Regulation 2014. This is present in the in the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). The risk factor in this case is the chances of the spoilage of the food and if these types of spoil foods are provided to the customer it will had a bad impact over the customers. Consumer Protection The consumer protection is mandatory for the business of the hotels. The Australian law of consumer protection promotes a fair competition and trade so that the customers, community, and the business get benefited. It also regulates the services of the national infrastructures. These laws related consumer protection ensures individuals and the businesses comply with the competition of Australia and fair trading. These laws are approved according to the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) 2011. If there is no customer protection then it will become a risk factor and no customer will want to stay at in that hotel and the consequences will be the hotel will lose its customers. Innkeepers Duty of Care The innkeepers should accept all the inoffensive persons offering themselves as their guests, but on condition that the innkeeper has an availability of the accommodation and the guest is ready to pay the decided reasonable charge for that accommodation. The innkeepers should possess very strong proper grounds for making refusal to receiving of any proposed guest. These types of instances are normally restricted. However, it is accepted only in case of unsuitability of the guest or lack of accommodation. If this protocol is not followed then the risk that arises is the customer and the visitor will feel that they are ill treated and consequently they will move to another hotel. Workers Compensation In Australia the laws that are followed for the compensation of the workers are all followed according to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. The main protocols of this act are: Provide compensation which is fair for the work-related illnesses, injuries and deaths. Supporting early and effective and return to work. Ensuring that all the employer costs are impartially circulated and controlled within rational limits. Decreasing the overall economic and social costs to the community of work-related illness, injuries and fatalities. The risk factors that prevails with is particular issue is that if these facilities will not be there then the workers will move on to the organization which is providing these facilities and the result will be the company wont get any workforce for their work. Workplace Occupation Health and Safety In Australia the Work place Health and safety is strictly followed which includes regulations that sets the standards required to meet up the particular hazards and the risk factors like the noise, manual handling and the machinery and it is same in almost every state of Australia. Industrial Relation For the Industrial relation in Australia there is an Industrial Relation Act 1996 that is AIRC Rules which states that a minimum condition and terms have to be followed for employments, there should be rule for the governing of the industrial actions, provisions for the flexibility of the individual workers and the employer for making arrangement of flexible work, and protection against the unlawful and unfair termination of the employment (Segon et al. 2015). Equal Opportunity In the Australia the state and the national laws covers up the opportunity for the equal employment and the maintenance of the anti-discrimination environment in the workplace. There are laws present for the creation of the workplace which will be free from the adverse affect of the harassment and discrimination. The risk for this particular issue will be that the workers and the employees will to not provide their 100 percent of work for the organization and consequently the quality of the facilities given to the visitors and the customers will get hampered. Superannuation Superannuation is present in Australia are the arrangements that enables people in Australia to accumulate some funds so that they are made to provided with some income after their retirements. This technique almost partly compulsory in Australia and it is further encouraged by the Australian government, the tax benefit also support this method. A minimum standard had been set by the government for contribution of the employees and also the superannuation fund managements (Campbell et al. 2016). The facility of Superannuation should be there otherwise risk factor that the workers will feel that they have no assurance of their future and as a result they will move on to another organization. Anti-Discrimination There is no discrimination on the religion, race, gender, colour, age, sexual preference, marital status, pregnancy, political opinion and social origin for the selection of the employees in Australia. It is very unlawful to make any type of discrimination to the jobseekers and employees on the basis of the above mentioned factors (Casino, 2016). The risk factor with discrimination is that discrimination destroy the environment of the workplace and a result is that output of good work is not possible. Environment The rules are very severe for the maintenance of the ambient workplace environment under the Workplace health and safety act and regulation which states that the workers should be provided with the facilities like the toilets, washing and dining areas, drinking water, shelter, changing rooms and personal storage facilities. These laws also states workplace should have lighting and ventilation (Townsend and Wilkinson, 2013). The risk factor regarding the environment of the workplace is that if it is not maintained then the workers will not be ready to do the work. The result will be that the organization will not get any workforce to perform the regular daily work. Insurance The facility of insurance is mandatory for the workers in Australia. Each of the organizations has to provide insurance for the workers and the employees. At the common wealth level the compensation is payable to the employees until the age of 65 years, However in certain cases it can be increased. Taxation Every company and organization established in Australia has to pay the Goods and Service Tax Act (GST). In most of the goods and the service sales it is 10 percent. The GST is levied on maximum number of transaction during the process of the production, however it is refunded to the all parties who are involved in the chain of the process of production except the final consumer (Van der Wagen and Goonetilleke, 2015). The organization which does not give the goods and service tax then the risk factor that arises is the chances of the cancellation of the license of the organization of doing their business. The consequences of this will be that they have to close their organization. Risk Management The people and the employers who are in control of the work place where there are presences of the hazardous substances then risk assessment must be performed on the substances that are hazardous so that the exposure of the substance can be minimized and the well being and the health of the staffs of the organization can be protected (Rice, 2014). If these things are not controlled then there remains a risk factor of the chance of occurring accident and it will not be beneficial for the impression of the organization. Employments and Awards For the encouragement of the staff there should an awards giving sessions of the staffs on the periodical basis and the also there must be scope of promotion on the basis of the performance of the employees. These thing will decrease the chance of the risk factors like the de-motivation of the employees to do their work and the consequence they will leave the organization. Reference Campbell, I., Boese, M., and Tham, J. C. 2016. Inhospitable workplaces? International students and paid work in food services. Casino, H. 2016. Miller Harris supports maternal health.Circulation,10. Manoharan, A., Gross, M. J., and Sardeshmukh, S. R. 2014. Identity-conscious vs identity-blind: Hotel managers use of formal and informal diversity management practices.International Journal of Hospitality Management,41, 1-9. Rice, P. 2014. Universal management: a proposal to change the direction of accessibility management in the Australian tourism industry to create benefits for all Australians and visitors to Australia.Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal,2(2). Segon, M., Booth, C., and Shi, E. 2015. Job Security, Economic Uncertainty and Climate Change and their Influence on Ski Industry Workers in Japan.World,6(2). Townsend, K., and Wilkinson, A. 2013. Contingent management plans awaiting a contingency: the GFC and workplace change in the Australian hotels sector.Asia Pacific Business Review,19(2), 266-278. Van der Wagen, L., and Goonetilleke, A. 2015.Hospitality Management, Strategy and Operations. Pearson Higher Education AU.

The Sociology of Modernization and Development

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck essays

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck essays The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck is both a historical and literary depiction of the lives of California migrant workers who became victims to the dry spells that plagued the Dust Bowl regions (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado) during the 1930s. The novel, through the lead characters, Tom Joad and his family, Steinbeck illustrated life of Oklahomans who migrated to California in search for work and living. However, the Joad family's life served as the symbol' representing all California migrant workers during the period. This is because the novel actually discusses the conflict between the California migrant workers (protagonist) and the white American society (antagonist). Moreover, the novel is also a display of conflict between poverty and wealth, as American society shifts from being an agricultural to urban. Conflict between the migrant workers and white Americans in California stemmed from the threat that the migrants posed for the state's inhabitants: the migration of people from the Dust Bowl regions led to lesser opportunities for work and economic resources for them Tom Joad, the main character of the novel, best represent the migrant worker of the 30s, who was forced to leave his home for want of a better life in California. However, hopes for his family's good fortune in their new life led to disillusionment when he witnessed the sorry' state of migrants in and the ugliness' of California. This realization surfaced as they neared and arrived at the state: "Tom looked about the grimy tents, the junk equipment, at the old cars, the lumpy mattresses out in the sun, at the blackened cans on fire-blackened holes where the people cooked" (286). The inevitable conflict that discrimination among migrant workers finally led to Tom's downfall, when he was (wrongfully) accused of killing Casy. His disillusionment and becoming a fugitive bui...

Tacit Knowledge, Systems for Combating Identity Theft Article

Tacit Knowledge, Systems for Combating Identity Theft - Article Example Also devise a method for a medical or financial organization to determine its security measures are sufficient. Develop an organizational plan for information systems to address potential identity theft issues. Tacit Knowledge: Making It Explicit Reference Information: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/Research/facts/tacit.pdf Purpose of Study: Provide an understanding of tacit knowledge and the risks related to it. Sampling Comments: According to TACIT KNOWLEDGE(n.d), tacit knowledge is â€Å"information that the actor knows he has (how to catch a ball, tie a knot, and mark a line) but which he cannot, nonetheless, describe in terms other than its own (skilful) performance†(TACIT KNOWLEDGE, n.d.). Measures: The article reviews aspects related to tacit knowledge. The aspect of transfer of knowledge from one person to the other is the core factor in tacit knowledge. Polanyi (2002) argues that transformation of such information creates problems. Personal knowledge is commonl y used despite the fact that it is shared among many. Findings/Results/Main Points: Personal information works best when instruments used in technology are not available. Availability of machines used in communication and softwares that encourage social behavior contributes to tacit. During this process, many employees are tricked to leak secret information that lead to identity theft. Conclusion: The importance of tacit knowledge remains debatable in relation to the risks involved. Its effectiveness is noted from the ability that it lacks explicit information. Organizations need to sensitize their employees on use on internet to avoid leakage of secret information that leads to identity theft. Systems for Combating Identity Theft- A Theoretical Framework Reference Information: Ji’, S. Smith-Chao, S. & Min, Qing-Fei. (2008, August). Systems Plan for Combating Identity Theft- A Theoretical Framework. J. Serv. Sci. & Management Journal, 1: 143-152. SciRes. Purpose of Study: To examine the starting point used for organizational systems design in roles played by identity owner, the issuer, checker and protector. Sampling Comments: â€Å"From system analysis and design perspective, understanding identity theft problem and designing managerial and technological systems to combat identity theft requires a holistic and comprehensive framework† (Ji, Smith-Chao & Min, 2008). Measures: Identity thieves use several techniques to retrieve data from their victims. Some of unsophisticated means used are stolen wallets, cell phones and laptops. Social engineering is used in convincing internet users to reveal their secret information. Processes needed to stop identity theft rely on information technology and its systems. Findings/Results/Main Points: Identity theft takes place through stage managed steps. Step one; the identity thief gets personal information of the victim. In step two; the identity thief tries to misuse stolen information of the victim. The fin al step involves the victim suffers emotionally or financially after the identity thief has vandalized the victim’s property. Conclusion: The world has turned to a global village through technology. Use of internet has increased from individual use to organizations. Internet is used for communication and business. Personal information

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 12

Business Ethics - Essay Example The researcher of this essay states that in current times, a success of an organization is not only judged based on their financial profits, but also based on whether they achieve those profits through ethical means. Thus, ethics has become a crucial part of any organizations’ success, brand image, etc, and so it needs to be incorporated into every aspect of its internal functioning as well as in organization’s external environment. Most organizations only follow ethics in their external environment, thereby fulfilling their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, it is of utmost importance to include ethical aspects in the internal functioning as well, particularly in relation to gender equation between the male and female employees. Although, women in current times, are playing key, optimum and leading roles in various ‘spheres’ of life including business organizations, there is still some ethical issues relating to them in the form of gender disc rimination. The researcher reviews the book, GenderTalk Works: 7 Steps for Cracking the Gender Code at Work written by Connie Glaser that focuses on these gender issues and the related ethical aspects. With certain gender-specific impediments blocking smooth communication between the male and the female employees, and also preventing women from reaching the top levels in the hierarchy, it is mentioned that this book provides practical advices on how to bridge the gender gap at work and also how to provide a conducive environment, for the development of women leaders.

Education System in Pakistan

Education System in Pakistan How important is education for you? Importance of education can be imagined by Nelson Mandelas saying Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. That is the most powerful weapon that can change the world is Education. A nation cannot Progress without improving its education. What comes in your mind when you hear the term Education? It is very difficult to define it. Dewey defines education as a form of  learning  in which knowledge, skills, and  habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, research, or simply through auto didacticism (Dewey, John, (1916)) G. K. Chesterson also argues that Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. And I feel that it is the most appropriate and comprehensive definition because education is the thing which differentiate two people not money, education tells us the difference between two people. An educated person talks differently, he has more sense to his talk than an uneducated person. The behavior of an educated person is totally different from an uneducated person. When you know better you do better (Maya Angelou). In short education defines a human being. What are we without education? Barbarian? We need educat ion to live in this world we cannot survive without education in this rapidly developing and progressing world if we, as Pakistanis, do not get educated we will not survive in this world for long if we need to move with the world we have to move fast and have to get more educated so that we can progress with the world otherwise we will be left behind and like always other people will bully us. So in here I will talk about the education system of our country, Pakistan, its flaws and good aspect of education system of our country. If a country has a commendable education system then that country is destined to prosper. Because education teaches a person the meaning of life it teaches a man how to live in this world. In the modern era, one can say that education is one of the most powerful weapons for a nation to conquer any combat and to be a sovereign state. Education is something which differentiates humans from animals. Every person is born with brains but it is education which shows us how to use it and use it to make our life easier and more luxurious for ourselves. Being an educated person means you have optimal access to your mind regardless of the situation you are in. (Tarry Malik (2012)) Education helps us understand this world and it teaches us how to make it better not only for ourselves but for the whole world. Education has opened all kinds of doors of enlighten to human kind and shows us the path of progress. It builds the whole society. It enlightens the whole society from the darkness of illit eracy to the light of knowledge. It teaches us discipline. And on the other hand a country cannot progress without improving its education system. Education has many forms; we can see different types of education in our surroundings. The most common type we observe is the formal education which is obtained in many ways. Our formal education starts from school the education we get from school is called primary education in primary education we learn very basic things like basics of maths the four operators addition, subtraction ,multiplications and division we only learn the basics of every subject. As said by Henry Fielding Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality. Then comes the secondary education in this level of the education we learn basics of some complex subjects like biology and physics. Then comes the intermediate level or commonly known as inter level here we learn the advance but not that advance study of the science and we also learn arts subjects such as Urdu and English up to the level that we can write or read all kind of things. After that comes to the bachelors Level where we choose a subject and we learn all about that specific subject like B. A. English. In B. A. English we learn all the grammar and literature of English after the bachelors comes the master level in which we have even more specific field of the topic we choose earlier in the bachelors level and we learn all about that in master level. These are some common phases of education which come into our mind suddenly when we hear the word Education and these phases are called formal education. But education is not limited to formal type only; it has a very broad meaning. Apart from this formal type, other is also an informal type of education. Distant learning is one of its parts. Home and society is the most common source of it. Informal education is education which we get from our surrounding and society and from our daily experiences. And we can also get informal education from television and internet too. Informal education is as important as formal education. In Pakistan presently the institution are following two kinds of education systems, one being private sector and the other government sector. These two sectors cater the needs of the general public. Education system of private sector is more than satisfactory as they provide good teaching staff to their students and the syllabus they teach is also satisfactory. They also provide necessary extracurricular activities to their students. But the real problem is with the public or government sectors education as they neither have efficient teaching staff nor they have teachers which are well qualified for the job, and I think that is the biggest problem of them all, then the syllabus and the courses are not up to the mark. There are no extracurricular activities in public sector too. Apart from these differences, there is a contrast in teaching style and teachers behavior. Teachers are friendlier with their students in private institutes. In these institutes, students are able to learn mo re with more comfort. On the other hand this type of behavior is not common in public sector. A report published in the Journal of Human Resources says that School quality was found to have mixed effects on student achievement. However, in keeping with the estimates of school choice reported in this paper, high pupil-teacher ratios were found to have a uniform negative effect on student achievement, with the effect being particularly pronounced on language skills. This is also consistent with the large negative effect of pupil-teacher ratios on probability of selecting government schools. Finally, private schools were found to have better outcomes than government schools. (Harold Aldermana Peter F. Orazemb Elizabeth M. Paternoc (2001)). Due to this large difference between these two sectors, a common man cares about his children and do not allow the children to be admitted in the government sector. By admitting their child in private sector, most of the people are more satisfied about the future of their children. There are some flaws in the education system of Pakistan. We have very few resources to maintain a good structure of our education system. But the good thing is that our government is very committed to take some steps for betterment of education as National Educational Policy says The Ministry of Education has adopted following vision: Our education system must provide quality education to our children and youth to  enable them to realize their individual potential and contribute to development of society  and nation, creating a sense of Pakistani nationhood, the concepts of tolerance, social  justice, democracy, their regional and local culture and history based on the basic ideology  enunciated in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. (Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan (2009)) Our government has not enough budgets for education as we are facing some problems in our financial condition. Government is unable to start new schools, colleges and universities so there is a very few number of government institutes in our country so people have to concern with the private institutes to keep their education going, where they have to face heavy expenditure of education. We cannot blame any government for this flaw because as a state we are facing some serious problems regarding our econo my; we do not have enough assets and in addition to this, terrorism is also damaging the economy. But the good thing is that government is trying to increase its education budget to fulfill the educational expenditure of the country. So after some time we can have improved our number of resources. Also there is a huge unbalance in number of institutes in rural and urban area. There are 163,000 primary schools in Pakistan, of which merely 40,000 cater to girls. Of these, 15,000 are in Punjab Province, 13,000 in Sind, 8,000 in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and 4,000 in Baluchistan. (Aamir Latif, Alarming situation by Aamir Latif ()) Another problem in our system is untrained teachers, here we have no such mechanism by using which we can train the teachers. Because teacher is the one who builds the whole society. So he must be well aware of his responsibilities so that he can cultivate civilized and educated citizens. By organizing a community which teaches the teachers that how to behave and teach and also what to teach, this problem can be resolved. Outdated course is also one the major problem. Our educational experts must be well aware of what is happening in the world regarding to every field so that they can update curricula according to the need of time. Examination system is also facing some problems; in our system, class teacher is all and all as for as examinations are concerned. Papers are completely from the syllabus which teacher has discussed in the class but after middle, papers are made by the different educational boards regardless of what is being taught in different institutes and the communication gap between teachers, students and the respective board causes doubt in students mind. By compressing the communication gap, this flaw can be root caused. As discussed above, government should take some steps to improve the educational system of our country. For example they can start with the increase in the educational budget so they can attract good teachers and can build more schools, colleges and universities. It is very important to make more universities cause there is a lot of students who cannot afford private institutes for their further studies and need government universities to study further but due to small number of government universities some students are forced to leave there studies and they get a job to support their families. The government really needs to update their course and syllabus because it is now out dated and there are a lot of mistakes in books. One of the most annoying thing that they should improve or correct is examination system because exams taken by the government is not really meant to test the grip or concepts of the student it is rather based on the fact that how well the student memorize each and every word that is written in the book. The checking system is also not good as they do not give marks properly as there are so many complaints every year. The teaching style of the teachers is also not so much good as the teaching style of the teacher should be such that it brings out the true talent of the child but here teachers only read the text written in the books not explaining it properly not having different exercises with it which is not good enough. Apart from flaws there are some very good aspects of our educational system too. The most clear thing is that in spite of lack in resources and new technology, our system is not only working but one can assure that it is progressing and getting successful to educate the people of Pakistan. Which is clear by the figures During 2005-06, literacy rate for all adults of 15 years and above rose to 51.7% 53.5% during 2007-08 and for young adults (aged 15-24 years) to 67% in 2005-06 68% in 2007-08. Both these rates show improvements from their 2001-02 levels, of 43% and 62% respectively. (Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan (2009)) So, as I had said that education is very important for every one we should encourage everyone to obtain it because it helps us live in this world it is the reason that westerns are so far ahead of us in every aspect of life. Until we do not get educated we cannot help our country or show our country the path of development and progress the only way Pakistan can progress is with the help of educated people which we lack a lot. So our government should pay special attention towards the development of the educational system of our country so that we can produce more educated people in Pakistan. It is not only governments responsibility to improve the educational system of Pakistan it is our responsibility too to make the educational system of Pakistan more efficient and more effective.

Blacks in Victorian England Essay -- Victorian Era

The Othered Victorians Introduction The Victorian period was a time of great hypocrisy. Despite the fact that the Protestant work ethic was gaining popular support amongst the Victorians and myths such as Samuel Smiles' "rags to riches" became part of mainstream Victorian culture, the Victorians were greatly divided into their respective social classes. Works like Thomas Carlyle's "The Irish Widow" and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Cry of the Children" exemplified the blatant disregard of the upper classes to that of the lower class. If the Victorians were divided amongst themselves, imagine what it was like for people of different religions and races. The Blacks of this period was one such race that suffered tremendously throughout the Victorian period. They were referred to as The Othered Victorians. Blacks Victorian Novels In Victorian novels blacks were depicted as wild savages who were incapable of controlling themselves without the supervision of a noble upper class Victorian. Characters such as Miss Swartz (Swartz is a German word meaning black; it is also a popular German-Jewish name) and Samboo (a general and derogatory term used to refer to all blacks) within William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair were depicted in such a way. For example, on the day of Amelia's departure, Miss Swartz was described as, "[T]he rich wooly-haired mulatto from St. Kitt's†¦she was in such a passion of tears that they were obliged to send for Dr. Floss, and half tipsify her with salvolatile" (Thackeray 206). Origin of Prejudice Where did these prejudices stem from? These prejudices are remnants of the colonial era. Before the Victorian period, the days of Christopher Columbus, there was a fever of exploration and discov... ...the Victorians were more appalled by a marriage across class lines than across racial barriers ("Before" 3). This does not suggest that they were still disgusted by interracial marriages-recall Rebecca, daughter of an opera singer, and Rawdon, son of an aristocrat in Vanity Fair. Works Cited "Before the Black Victorians." 7 November 2004. . "Creole in Black and White." 28 October 2004. . "Exhibiting 'Others' in the West." 28 October 2004. . Giddings, Paula J. The Romance of Two Black Victorian Writers. 18 August 2002. 28 October 2004. Lester, Julius. To Be A Slave. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1968. "Phrenology." 8 November 2004. .

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Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 www. elsevier. com/locate/pragma On newspaper headlines as relevance optimizers Daniel Dor* Department of Communications, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Abstract This paper suggests an explanatory functional characterization of newspaper headlines. Couched within Sperber and Wilson’s (1986) relevance theory, the paper makes the claim that headlines are designed to optimize the relevance of their stories for their readers: Headlines provide the readers with the optimal ratio between contextual e? ect and processing e? ort, and direct readers to construct the optimal context for interpretation.The paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted in the news-desk of one daily newspaper. It shows that the set of intuitive professional imperatives, shared by news-editors and copy-editors, which dictates the choice of headlines for speci? c stories, can naturally be reduced to the notion of relevance optimization. The a nalysis explains why the construction of a successful headline requires an understanding of the readers—their state-of-knowledge, their beliefs and expectations and their cognitive styles—no less than it requires an understanding of the story.It also explains the fact that skilled newspaper readers spend most of their reading time scanning the headlines—rather than reading the stories. # 2002 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Headlines; Relevance theory; Pragmatics; News value; News framing; Media, communication 1. Introduction This paper is an attempt to suggest an explicit and generalized answer to a very fundamental question in the study of the mass media, i. e. , the question of the communicative function of newspaper headlines.The importance of the role of headlines in the communicative act performed by newspapers can hardly be exaggerated, yet the nature of this role has virtually never been explicated in the literature. As we shall see below, the regular strategy adopted in the literature has been to make ? negrained descriptive distinctions between di? erent types of headlines—news headlines in ‘quality newspapers’; news headlines in ‘tabloid newspapers’; ‘summarizing * Tel. : +972-3–6406521; fax: +972-3-6406032. E-mail address: [email  protected] tau. ac. il (D. Dor). 0378-2166/02/$ – see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0378-2166(02)00134-0 696 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 headlines’; ‘localizing headlines’, ‘quotation headlines’, etc. —and assign them different types of communicative functions. In this paper, I will suggest an explanatory functional de? nition of newspaper headlines which attempts to transcend the above distinctions in type and explain the very fact that newspapers—all types of newspapers—have headlines in them. The functio nal de? nition to be developed in this paper relies very heavily on Sperber and Wilson’s (1986) technical notion of relevance.Newspaper headlines will be functionally de? ned as relevance optimizers: Newspaper headlines are relevance optimizers: They are designed to optimize the relevance of their stories for their readers. This functional de? nition positions the headline in its appropriate role as a textual negotiator between the story and its readers. It explains why the construction of a successful headline requires an understanding of the readers—their state-of-knowledge, their beliefs and expectations and their cognitive styles—no less than it requires an understanding of the story. It reduces the di? rences between the di? erent subtypes of headlines mentioned above to a matter of tactical choice: As we shall see, all the di? erent subtypes target the same functional goal, that of relevance optimization, although they do it in di? erent ways. The literatu re on newspaper headlines covers a wide range of theoretical and empirical topics, all the way from the grammar of English headlines to the e? ects of headlines on news comprehension and recall. 1 Surprisingly, however, the literature dealing directly with the communicative function of headlines is rather sparse.I will review it in the next section. In Section 3, I will brie? y introduce Sperber and Wilson’s theory, and then develop the notion of relevance optimization. In Section 4, I will apply the notion of relevance optimization to newspaper headlines. In Section 5, I will present the results of an empirical study conducted in the news-desk of the Israeli national newspaper Ma’ariv, where I followed the process of headline production from close range. 2 I will show that the set of intuitive professional imperatives, shared by news-editors and copy-editors, which dictates the choice of headlines for speci? stories, can naturally be reduced to one meta-imperative: Ma ke the headline such that it renders the story optimally-relevant for the readers. In Section 6, I will apply the relevance-based conception to the analysis of tabloid headlines. In Section 7, I will deal with the role of the reader in this framework, and show that my relevance-based theory explains some of the more intriguing behavioral patterns manifested by newspaper readers—especially the fact that many skilled readers On headline reading, interpretation and recall, see Henley et al. 1995), Leon (1997), Lindemann (1989), Perfetti et al. (1987), Pfau (1995) and van Dijk (1988 and references therein); on headline production, see Bell (1984, 1991), Fasold (1987) and Chang et al. (1992); on the grammar of headlines, see Bell (1984), Jenkins (1990) and Mardh (1980); on metaphors in headlines, see de Knop (1985); on headlines from a cross-linguistic perspective, see Dierick (1987) and Sidiropoulou (1995). 2 Between 1996 and 1998, I worked as a senior news-editor and head of the news-desk in Ma’ariv.This was a period of very intensive participant observation: I was involved in the decision-making process concerning the formulation of thousands of headlines. The e-mail exchanges which were analyzed for this paper were randomly collected throughout this period—from other senior editors. 1 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 697 spend most of their reading time scanning the headlines rather than reading the stories. In the concluding section, I will sketch some of the larger-scale implications of my theory, and suggest some directions for further research. . Multiple types, multiple functions Traditionally, newspaper headlines have been functionally characterized as short, telegram-like summaries of their news items. This is especially true with respect to news headlines. Van Dijk (1988) couches this traditional insight within his discourseanalytic framework: ‘‘Each news item in the press has a Headline . . . and many have a Lead, whether marked o? by special printing type or not. We also have an elementary rule for them: Headline precedes Lead, and together they precede the rest of the news item.Their structural function is also clear: Together they express the major topics of the text. That is, they function as an initial summary. Hence, as in natural stories, we may also introduce the category Summary, dominating Headline and Lead. The semantic constraint is obvious: Headline+Lead summarize the news text and express the semantic macrostructure. ’’ Obviously, some newspaper headlines do provide what seems to be a summary (or abstract) of their stories, but the general theoretical conception which takes this to be the essential function of the headline seems to be too narrow, for at least three complementary reasons.First, even the most prototypical news headlines, those which appear in what is sometimes called ‘quality newspapers’, do not always summarize their s tories. Some headlines highlight a single detail extracted out of the story, and others contain a quotation which the editor decided should be promoted to the foreground. As we shall see below, some headlines even contain material which does not appear in the news item itself. The fact that headlines do not always summarize, but sometimes highlight or quote, has been noted by di? erent writers.Bell (1991), for example, makes a distinction between headlines which ‘‘abstract the main event of the story’’, and headlines which ‘‘focus on a secondary event or a detail’’ (p. 188–9). Nir (1993) distinguishes between headlines which function as ‘‘a summary of the story’’ and ‘‘headlines which, rather than summarize the story, promote one of the details of the story’’ (p. 25). 3 Second, the traditional notion of headlines-as-summaries de? nitely does not capture the function of head lines in more popular newspapers, and especially in tabloids. This point has been made by di? rent writers, most notably by Lindemann (1990). As Lindemann shows, tabloid headlines rarely summarize their stories, are not always telegram-like, and in many cases are not even informative. Lindemann discusses the 3 Note that none of the above writers goes beyond the descriptive labeling of the di? erent types of headlines to suggest explicit theoretical de? nitions and explanations. This fact is most clearly demonstrated by Bernstein and Garst (1982), quoted in Lindemann (1990), who claim that ‘‘†¦ the headline contains the main highlight of the story. Since it is the most conspicuous part and the part that is read ? st, the copy editor must present the essence of the news before he goes further’’. In this short quotation, Bernstein and Garst seem to equate the essence of the story with its highlight, thus equating the function of summarizing with that of h ighlighting. 698 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 function of tabloid headlines in poetic terms: They present the reader with a ‘‘fairly complex riddle’’, which, ? rst, triggers frames and belief systems in the reader’s mind, and, then, gets resolved in the ensuing text. Thus, the following headline, (1) NO-LA-LA! The Frogs Get Bored with Bed raps the reader ‘‘in the treadmill of well-established cliches and prejudice’’, through the use of such expressions as frogs, no-la-la and bed, and is then informationally resolved in the intro: ‘‘The days of the great French lovers are over—froggies just don’t fancy it any more. A third of women and a quarter of men told a nationwide survey they found bedtime one big yawn’’. Implicit in Lindemann’s analysis is the assumption, that the function of tabloid headlines is so radically di? erent from their function in qual ity newspapers, that the two cannot be theoretically uni? ed.As I will show below, the relevance-based analysis will allow exactly for that—to my mind, a very welcome theoretical result. The third reason to reject the traditional conception is the simple fact that headlines seem to have an additional, pragmatic function, beyond the semanticallyoriented function which is supposed to be captured by the headline-as-summary analysis. Bell (1991) says that headlines are a ‘‘part of news rhetoric whose function is to attract the reader’’ (p. 189). Nir (1993) claims that the headline has ‘‘to attract the attention of the reader and provoke the reader to read the whole story’’.In a sophisticated analysis of the semiotics of headlines, Iarovici and Amel (1989) explicitly contend that the headline has a ‘‘double function’’: ‘‘The implicit convention between author and reader regarding the intentio n of correlating a text to another text as a headline, and regarding the formal marking of this quality by a privileged position, concerns the double function of the headline: a semantic function, regarding the referential text, and a pragmatic function, regarding the reader (the receiver) to whom the text is addressed.The two functions are simultaneous, the semantic function being included in and justi? ed by the pragmatic function. †¦ The main function of the headline †¦ is to alert the reader (receiver) to the nature or the content of the text. This is the pragmatic function of the headline, and it includes the semantic one. The headline enables the reader to grasp the meaning of the text. The headline functions as a plurality of speech acts (urging, warning, and informing)’’ (p. 441–443). The challenge posed by the above assertions is that of theoretical uni? cation.At least two questions are involved: First, can we functionally de? ne the headline in a way which would transcend the above distinctions between the di? erent semantically-oriented functions? In other words, is there a generalized function which summarizing headlines, localizing headlines and quotation headlines have in common? Second, can we de? ne the headline in a way which would transcend the distinction between the above semantic function and the parallel pragmatic function which D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 699 headlines ful? ll?I would like to claim that this theoretical move becomes possible once we couch the functional analysis of headlines within the framework of Sperber and Wilson’s (1986) theory of relevance. 4 3. Relevance theory and relevance optimization Sperber and Wilson’s theory is an attempt to reduce a very complex set of phenomena having to do with communication and interpretation to a very constrained set of explanatory, cognitive notions. In its essence, the theory is one of cognitive cost-e? ectiven ess: It claims that human cognitive processes are geared to achieving the greatest possible cognitive e? ct for the smallest processing e? ort. This metaprinciple is incarnated in Sperber and Wilson’s technical notion of relevance. Let us take a look at the fundamental tenets of this framework: Our starting point is the individual mind: Every individual mentally represents in his or her mind a huge set of assumptions. Assumptions are propositional entitiesthey are the type of entities that can be believed to be true. Our assumptions may include, among other things, information on the immediate physical environment, expectations about the future, scienti? hypotheses, religious beliefs, anecdotal memories, general cultural assumptions, beliefs about the personal lives of our acquaintances, knowledge about politics and history, beliefs about our own emotions, fears and hopes, and so on. Each of the assumptions represented by the individual has a ‘‘strength’â⠂¬â„¢ for that individual. The strength of the assumption for the individual is the level of con? dence with which the individual holds to the belief that the assumption is true. The strength of the assumption is a function of its cognitive processing history.Thus, for example, ‘‘assumptions based on a clear perceptual experience tend to be very strong; assumptions based on the acceptance of somebody’s word have a strength commensurate with one’s con? dence in the speaker; the strength of assumptions arrived at by deduction depends on the strength of the premises from which they were derived’’ (p. 77) Note that the strength of an assumption for the individual has nothing to do with its objective validity—individuals may have a very strong belief in assumptions which are totally false, and vice versa.When an individual hears, or reads, a novel assumption, he or she always interprets it in a context. The notion of context is used here as a psychological construct: It is a subset of the assumptions which the hearer already represents in his or her long-term memory. Informally, what the mind of the individual does in the process of interpretation may be thought of as a comparison of the new assumption with the subset of assumptions represented in the individual’s memory. Sperber and Wilson name the cognitive apparatus responsible for this process of comparison- ‘‘the deductive device’’.The comparison of the novel assumption with the existing 4 The general notion of pragmatic relevance, which is not to be equated with Sperber and Wilson’s technical one, plays some role in van Dijk’s (1988) analysis of news selection. However, van Dijk does not make the connection between his notion of relevance and the function of headlines, which he takes to be summaries of their texts. 700 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 assumptions may have di? erent types of out puts: It may turn out, for example, that the novel assumption already exists in the individual’s long term-memory, in which case it is not new for the individual.Or it may be new, in which case it may either be in line, or in contradiction with some of the already existing assumptions. If, for example, the novel assumption contradicts existing assumptions, and if it is strong enough, the process of comparison will end up with the weakening of the existing assumptions. In some cases, it may even end up with the erasure of those assumptions. If the new information is in line with some existing assumptions, it may serve to strengthen them some more. Moreover, the union of the new assumption with some existing assumptions may lead to the deduction of additional assumptions.Thus, for example, if the individual already represents the assumption that ‘‘whenever Peter goes to a party, it becomes a success’’, and he or she now learns that ‘‘Peter came to Bill’s party’’, then the deductive device deduces an additional assumption, namely that ‘‘Bill’s party was a success’’. To the extent that the comparison of the new assumption with the old ones results in a change to the individual’s set of prior assumptions (if it either adds new assumptions, or weakens or strengthens existing ones), we say that the new information has a contextual e? ect for the individual.Now, the following point is crucial: The deductive device does not compare every novel assumption to the entire set of assumptions represented in the individual’s longterm memory. Doing this would be cognitively impossible. This means that the comparison is done with some subset of existing assumptions. This, in turn, raises a very important question: How does the deductive device choose this subset? Traditionally, pragmaticists have assumed that the context for the interpretation of an utterance is simp ly given: It consists of the immediate environment and the information explicitly mentioned in the conversation prior to the utterance.Sperber and Wilson ? ip this assumption on its head and suggest a radical alternative: They show that the deductive device has to update the context for the interpretation for each new assumption, and that the speci? c subset of existing assumptions which is chosen for the context is determined, at least partially, by the content of the new assumption. In cognitive terms, this means that the order of events in comprehension is reversed: It is not that the deductive device ? rst sets the context, and then interprets the new assumption.On the contrary, the deductive device has to partially ? gure out the meaning of the new assumption, retrieve a speci? c subset of assumptions from long-term memory, store them in its own short-term memory, and then make the comparison. An example should make this radical conception rather intuitive. Take a look at the f ollowing exchanges: (2) A: How are you? B: Not so good, Mary has that ear-infection again, I’m worried. (3) A: How are you? B: Great, I just bought the tickets. We’re ? ying to Beijing in exactly four weeks.In order to interpret B’s answer in each of these exchanges, A has to compare them to a subset of existing assumptions. The proper context in (2) should include assumptions about the identity of Mary, her relation to B, her medical history, ear- D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 701 infections, and so on and so forth. The proper context in (3) should include assumptions about B’s travel plans, the identity of her companion, or companions, whatever assumptions A has about Beijing, and so on and so forth. Obviously, these assumptions are not stored in A’s short-term memory on a permanent basis.A’s deductive device has to retrieve these assumptions from long-term memory, and only then make the comparison and deduce the contextual e? ects. We may now make two parallel cognitive assumptions regarding the process I have described. First, we may assume that in its appropriate context, a new piece of information has a certain number of contextual e? ects, which, at least theoretically, can be counted. Practically speaking, when we deal with interpretations of actual utterances by real people, we do not know exactly how to make the measurement, but the dea itself is intuitive enough for us to accept. We may be pretty certain that in di? erent contexts, the same piece of information may yield di? erent amounts of contextual e? ects, and that in the same context, some pieces of information would yield more contextual e? ects than others. Second, we may assume that the work of the deductive device involves some mental e? ort, which—theoretically speaking, again- may be measured. 5 Other things being equal, for example, the computation of a more complex piece of information will take more e? ort than the computation of a simpler one.Moreover, the construction of a new context for interpretation also involves some mental e? ort: To the extent that the interpretation of the novel piece of information necessitates the retrieval of a larger set of assumptions from long-term memory, the mental e? ort involved in the interpretation process would be greater. The measurements of contextual e? ect and mental e? ort constitute the basis of Sperber and Wilson’s notion of relevance: (4) Relevance for an individual (p. 145): a. An assumption is relevant to an individual to the extent that the contextual e? cts achieved when it is optimally processed are large. b. An assumption is relevant to an individual to the extent that the e? ort required to process it optimally is small. It is crucial to understand that this is not a de? nition of relevance in some objective sense, but a claim concerning the way our minds make relevance judgments about new assumptions: We consider new assumptio ns to be relevant if they carry a contextual e? ect at a reasonable cognitive price. We judge new assumptions to be irrelevant if they do not carry a contextual e? ect, or if the computation of the contextual e? ct entails too much of a mental e? ort. Note that this is a comparative, gradual conception of relevance, rather than a binary one: New assumptions are not either relevant or not; they are more or less relevant than others, in di? erent contexts, for di? erent people. Thus, for example, a regular newspaper reader will prob5 Sperber and Wilson (1986, p. 130) conceptualize about the measurement of contextual e? ects and cognitive e? ort in terms of physico-chemical changes which occur in the brain as a result of the processing of the contextual e? ects. 702 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 bly judge a piece of local news to be more relevant than a piece of foreign news because (i) the potential contextual e? ect derivable from the local news would probab ly be larger; and (ii) the e? ort needed to interpret the foreign news (especially in terms of the retrieval of the appropriate set of assumptions from long-term memory) would probably be larger. This judgment need not be made consciously; the reader may simply skip the foreign-news page, or note that ‘foreign news is boring’. Note, however, that the very same reader may take the trouble to read the foreign news to the extent that their contextual e? cts would be worth his or her processing e? ort. This may be the case, for example, if the story is about a country which the reader intends to visit; if some people which the reader knows are there; if there is a local angle to the foreign story; if the foreign story has a global consequence which is felt locally, and so on. Finally, note that this technical notion of relevance should not be equated with relevance in the ordinary sense of the word. Relevance in this ordinary sense may be thought of as the measurement of th e association, or congruence, between some content and its context of interpretation.Thus, a news story will be relevant in this sense to the extent that it is about those issues which are directly related to the readers’ lives and interests. Indeed, relevance in this sense may play a role in news value judgments. Note, however, that a story may be relevant in this ordinary sense but very low on relevance in the technical sense (if it is long and complicated to read, for example, or if it does not carry a lot of new information); and it may be irrelevant in the ordinary sense, but high on relevance in the technical sense- if its potential contextual e? cts justify the construction of a new context for interpretation. Now, our technical de? nition of relevance is addressee-oriented, but it may actually tell us something of importance about the role of speakers in communicative contexts. Think about a speaker, Ann, who is trying to tell her addressee, John, a story. Being a coo perative communicator, Ann would like to make the story as relevant for John as possible. How should she go about achieving this goal? According to relevance theory, she has three principled strategies which she can try to dopt: (i) First, Ann can try to compress the largest possible number of new assumptions (those which are new for John) into her story: Other things being equal, the more new assumptions the story contains, the more contextual e? ects it may have for John. In the worst-case scenario, the story will not contain any assumptions which are new for John, in which case he is going to ? nd it totally irrelevant. Ann de? nitely needs to ? nd a way to do better than that. In the best-case scenario, on the other hand, the story will contain a very large number of new assumptions.As we shall see below, this is not always going to be possible. (ii) Second, Ann can try to minimize John’s processing e? ort: Other things being equal, the smaller the e? ort he has to put in , the greater the relevance of the story is going to be for him. In the worst-case scenario, the story is going to be too long and complicated, and John is going to lose interest. Ann de? nitely has to avoid that. In the best-case scenario, on the other hand, the D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 703 story will take a very minimal e? ort to process. Again, this is not always going to be possible. iii) Third, Ann can try to manipulate the context in which John is going to interpret her story. Other things being equal, the closer the context of interpretation is to the optimal one, the more contextual e? ects the story is going to carry for John. (Note that in regular conversation we regularly take the trouble to manipulate our addressee’s context of interpretation, especially when we wish to ‘‘change the topic of conversation’’: We say things like ‘Oh, I wanted to tell you something about Bill’, or ‘talking abo ut school, did you hear about Bill’s exam? ’).In the worst-case scenario, John is going to try to interpret Ann’s story in the wrong context, and the interpretation is going to yield no contextual e? ects. In the best-case scenario, the story is going to be interpreted in the most appropriate context, yielding the maximal amount of contextual e? ects. This, again, is not always going to be possible. Now, it is very important to realize that the three strategies mentioned above are not only completely intertwined, but are also in direct competition with each other. This is why achieving the maximal results associated with each of the strategies is not always possible.This is so for the following reasons: (i) First, every new assumption which the speaker adds to the story does not only contribute to the overall number of contextual e? ects- it also adds to the overall processing e? ort. Thus, the new assumption adds to the overall relevance of the story only to th e extent that it clearly adds more contextual e? ect than processing e? ort. To the extent that the new assumption adds more to the processing e? ort than to the contextual e? ect, it actually reduces the overall relevance of the story. In this case, more information results in less relevance.So, the attempt to maximize relevance simply by maximizing the amount of new information is bound to end up in failure. The speaker has to ? gure out the optimal amount of information which would not result in relevance reduction due to processing e? ort. (ii) Second, Ann may de? nitely try to maximally reduce John’s processing e? ort by making her story short, simple and clear, but this reduction will not necessarily result in maximal relevance: This is so, because the reduction in the story’s complexity characteristically reduces the number of its potential contextual e? ects. The reduction of processing e? rt will enhance the relevance of Ann’s story only to the extent t hat the amount of e? ort saved is larger than the amount of contextual e? ects lost. So, again, Ann cannot simply reduce John’s processing e? ort to the minimum. She has to ? gure out the optimal amount of e? ort which would not result in relevance reduction due to loss of contextual e? ects. (iii) Third, the number of contextual e? ects which John may deduce from Ann’s story is not just a function of the sheer number of new assumptions in the story, but a function of the interaction between these new assumptions and the context of interpretation.This means that Ann should not just provide 704 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 John with the optimal number of new assumptions, but also take care to provide him with those speci? c assumptions which would yield the maximal amount of contextual e? ects in the appropriate context, and at the very same time direct John to construct that speci? c context. This complicates our relevance considerations to a considerable extent, because the construction of the appropriate context entails a signi? cant amount of processing e? ort.Consequently, in principle, the construction of the appropriate context may eventually result in relevance reduction due to the increase in processing e? ort. Thus, the construction of a partial context for interpretation may sometimes be the optimal strategy. As we have seen, Ann’s role as the story-teller is going to be that of relevance optimization: She will need to provide John with the optimal ratio of contextual e? ect and processing e? ort. This, I would like to claim, is exactly the generalized communicative function which newspaper headlines are supposed to ful? l: They are designed to optimize the relevance of their stories for their readers. 4. Newspaper headlines as relevance optimizers Consider the following story, from the Israeli national newspaper Ma’ariv: (5) The bodies of John Kennedy Jr. , his wife Caroline and his sister-in-la w Lorraine were discovered yesterday in the ocean, at a depth of 30 meters, 10 kilometers away from Martha’s Vineyard Island, where they were headed on Saturday. Senator Edward Kennedy, John’s uncle, arrived at the site where the bodies were found, in order to identify them. Kennedy Jr. ill be buried in NY in the coming days. This news item requires a certain amount of mental e? ort to interpret. To begin with, the paragraph requires some e? ort to read: It consists of about 70 words, and is grammatically fairly complex. Moreover, the news item requires the construction of a context for interpretation- one which includes whatever the reader knows about John Kennedy Jr. , his family, their disappearance two days before, the relevant geography, and probably at least something about the Kennedys’ history. As we have said before, the construction of this context takes an additional e? rt. Let us assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the interpretation of the enti re story will require the ordinary reader to invest a certain amount of e? ort, let us dub it E(story). Now, to the extent that the reader manages to construct the appropriate context and read the passage, the story carries a certain amount of contextual e? ects: It changes a lot of factual assumptions the reader represented in his or her long-term memory (e. g. , the assumption ‘John Kennedy Jr. is alive and well’ is replaced by ‘John Kennedy Jr. died in an irplane accident’), and it changes, weakens or strengthens a great many related assumptions having to do with, for example, the inescapable tragedies of the Kennedy family, the life-styles of the rich and D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 705 famous, the blindness of fate, the risks involved in ? ying your own plane, and so on and so forth. Obviously, di? erent readers will probably deduce di? erent sets of contextual e? ects from the story, but for the sake of simplicity, let us a ssume that the ordinary reader will deduce a certain amount of contextual e? cts, let us dub it C(story). The relevance of the story for the ordinary reader will thus be: R(story)=C(story)/E(story). Now, let us take a look at the headline the newspaper gave to the story: (6) John Kennedy Jr. ’s body found How much e? ort does the reader have to invest in interpreting the headline? Obviously, much less than E(story): The headline is a single, short and simple sentence, comprising ? ve words, and the e? ort needed to read it is insubstantial. The e? ort needed to construct the context for the interpretation of the headline is also signi? antly smaller—the reader does not need to retrieve the sets of assumptions having to do with the geography of the story, with Senator Ed Kennedy, and so on. For the sake of simplicity, let us make the arbitrary assumption that E(headline) equals 10% of E(story). Now, how many contextual e? ects can the reader deduce from the headline? Su rprisingly, when the headline is interpreted in its reduced context, a signi? cantly large subset of the contextual e? ects of the entire story survive. Obviously, some things are missing—for example, the fact that Kennedy’s wife and his sister-in-law were found too—but Kennedy’s death, its signi? ance within the tragic history of the Kennedy family, and the more general implications of the story are clear contextual e? ects of the headline. Let us adopt a conservative estimate: For the ordinary reader, C(headline) equals 50% of C(story). As a simple calculation clearly shows, our estimates entail that the headline multiplies the relevance of the story by ? ve (! ). It saves much more on the processing e? ort than it loses on the contextual e? ects. This is exactly what a headline should do. A short and simple text, it optimizes the relevance of the story by minimizing processing e? ort while making sure that a suf? ient amount of contextual e? ects are d educible within the most appropriate context possible. Just like Ann, our story-teller, the headline does not adopt an all-ornone strategy of either reducing processing e? ort to zero, or maximizing new information, or constructing the most appropriate context for interpretation. Rather, it attempts to optimize the ratio between processing e? ort and contextual e? ects- and thus optimally negotiate between the story and the ordinary reader. Note that for the optimization of relevance to be successful, the right material should be chosen for the headline.Consider, for example, the following three clauses as alternative headlines for the Kennedy story: (7) a. Caroline Kennedy’s body found b. Sen. Edward Kennedy arrived at the crash site. 706 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 c. The bodies of John Kennedy Jr. and his wife Caroline were discovered yesterday in the ocean, near Martha’s Vineyard Island. The ? rst two alternative headlines (7a and 7b) ar e probably as easy to read as the actual one, and we may assume that they require the construction of a very similar context for interpretation. However, they do not carry the same amount of contextual e? cts as the original. The third alternative (7c) carries a slightly larger number of contextual e? ects than the original, but it very obviously requires much more processing e? ort. Thus, all three alternative fall short of providing optimal relevance. Is the original headline in (6) a summarizing or a highlighting headline? It is hard to tell. The important point, however, is that from our theoretical point-of-view the summarizing-highlighting distinction is simply not that crucial: Summarizing the story is just one tactical approach to relevance optimization.Highlighting the most intriguing aspect of the story, or reproducing the most interesting statement quoted in the story, may have the very same result. It may turn out, for example, that the quotation or the highlighted aspec t carry more contextual e? ects than the summary of the whole narrative. In this case, the rational thing to do would be to promote them to the headline- and thus optimize the relevance of the story for the readers. The choice between these di? erent tactical approaches is in part a matter of the editorial style of the newspaper, and to a very large extent a matter of the experience and creativity of its editors.For every given story, some headline options are going to suggest themselves. The editor may opt for a summarizing headline, a highlighting headline or a quotation headline- depending on which type of headline will provide optimal relevance. 6 Moreover, the editor may manipulate the length and complexity of the headline, and its speci? c contents. And again, these manipulations, to a very large extent, are going to be relevance-oriented. 7 In the following section, I will present the results of an empirical study conducted in the years 1996–1998 in the news-desk of th e Israeli national newspaper Ma’ariv. In the study, I followed the decision-making process leading to the choice of headline for a large number of news items. As the results of the study clearly indicate, the set of professional intuitions shared by the editors, concerning the properties of the ‘right’ or ‘appropriate’ headline, are theoretically reduced to our notion of releI will discuss the choice of tabloid-type headlines later on. An anonymous referee notes that some text manipulations may not be relevance-oriented. Thus, for example, some manipulations may have to do with spacing on the page, and others with political considerations. I agree with the ? st point. In Dor (2001), however, I show that relevance-oriented manipulations play an extremely important role in processes of political framing. 8 There are currently three national newspapers in Israel: Yediot Ahronot and Ma’ariv are considered to be the popular newspapers, whereas Haâ €™aretz is considered to be the quality, high-brow one. Yediot Ahronot and Ma’ariv, however, are not tabloids in the regular, American-European sense. They contain a variety of ‘‘serious’’ news items which is not that di? erent from that of Ha’aretz, and are distinct from it especially in writing style and graphic design.In all three newspapers, headline formulation is considered part of the editorial process, and reporters do not formulate headlines for their stories. 7 6 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 707 vance: The most appropriate headline for a news item is the one which optimizes the relevance of the story for the readers of the newspaper. 5. The notion of relevance and the art of headline writing In general, news editors do not work with a very explicit de? nition of what headlines are, or of their communicative functions.What they do work with is a cluster of professional intuitions—gradually develop ed ‘in the ? eld’, and never seriously explicated—concerning the properties of what we might call, rather informally, the ‘right’, ‘appropriate’, or ‘good’ headline. When asked to provide an explicit de? nition of what a headline is, senior newspaper editors usually give an answer of the type: ‘I don’t know what headlines are, but I can tell a good one when I see it’. This answer is actually a pretty accurate rendition of a very fundamental sentiment: Professional knowledge is practical, not theoretical.However, when presented with a news-item, and asked to choose a headline out of a set of alternatives, experienced news editors do so with extreme ease and e? ciency. Moreover, senior editors in the same newspaper have a very high rate of agreement on the preferred headline. This means that experienced news editors know a great deal more about the functional properties of headlines than they ever explicate . In this sense, headline production is more similar to an artistic activity than, say, to the practice of an exact science. This a? ity with the arts is very clearly re? ected in the trial-and-error process which beginning copy-editors go through as part of their on-the-job training procedure. Rather than receive their professional education in the form of explicit lecturing, beginning copy-editors in Ma’ariv simply start out working: They are assigned a new-item, and are asked to rewrite it and suggest a headline for it. The result is then reviewed by the senior editor in charge, who, in most cases, rejects the suggested headline and writes a di? erent one, which eventually gets published.Sometimes, the copy-editor is asked to suggest the alternative headline, which is, again, reviewed by the editor in charge. Deadline pressure usually does not allow for long explanations: When the process is over, the copy-editor gets another story, suggests a headline, which usually gets rejected, and so on and so forth. This process goes on for years, and in a real sense never ends: In Ma’ariv, each and every suggested headline is sent to the senior editor in chief, in the form of an electronic message, to be approved or rejected, even if the copy-editors have years of experience behind them.Obviously, the rate of rejected headlines goes down with time, when the trained editor internalizes the set of implicit intuitions shared by the other, more experienced editors, but even very experienced editors get some of their headlines rejected some of the time: Sometimes, for example, the editor in chief knows something about the wider context of the story which the copy-editor was not aware of. The fact that these real-time negotiations about the headlines are done in writing, by e-mail messages, allowed me to follow the process of headline formulation from very close range.I collected 134 e-mail exchanges, concerning 134 news-items, and analyzed the semantic-pragm atic di? erences between the rejected and approved headlines. In some cases, I asked the editor in charge to reconstruct the reasons for 708 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 the rejection of the suggested headline. I then extracted a list of ten properties, which I shall call the properties of the appropriate headline. I submit that this list is an accurate rendition of the set of implicit intuitions shared by experienced news editors in Ma’ariv.In the following section, I will present the ten properties, each with its representative example, and show that the list is actually reducible to one professional meta-imperative: Make the headline such that it renders the story optimally-relevant. Three notes should be made at this point: First, the following discussion should not be thought of as an attempt to construct a theoretical framework, but as a description of a set of professional intuitions, shared by news editors, concerning the properties of the à ¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬Ëœappropriate headline’’. In other words, I do not intend to make any signi? ant claim concerning the theoretical status of the ten properties to be discussed below. Quite obviously, some of the properties seem to bear close resemblance to some principles discussed in the literature under the rubric of news value (e. g. , in Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Bell, 1991); other properties may remind the reader of Grice’s conversational maxims. I will leave the elaboration of these resemblances for further research, and concentrate on the possibility of reducing the entire set of properties to the relevance-based meta-intuition mentioned above. Second, the properties are to be thought of as default conditions, rather than obligatory ones. It is not the case that every headline should have all 10 properties. It is the case that a headline which meets any of these conditions is better than a headline which does not, and a headline which meets a larger number of the conditions is better than a headline which meets a smaller number of them. Thus, for example, the ? rst property—‘headlines should be as short as possible’—should be read as saying: ‘other things being equal, a shorter headline is better than a longer one’.Finally, The headlines presented in the next section are translated from the Hebrew original. I chose to keep the translation as literally accurate as possible, and avoided translating the headlines into ‘‘headlinese’’, because Hebrew headlines do not usually have the telegraphic syntax characteristic of English headlines. 5. 1. The properties of the ‘‘appropriate headline’’ [1] ‘‘Headlines should be as short as possible’’. Newspaper headlines are, quite obviously, very short clauses.The actual length of each particular headline, however, is a matter of considerable debate and negotiation between senior editors an d copy editors: Copy-editors, especially the beginners, suggest longer headlines, attempting to ‘capture’ as much of the story as possible. The senior editors shorten the headlines to a considerable extent- leaving out whole chunks of information. One of the expertises mastered by experienced editors is the ability to decide which parts of the story should be left out of the headline. The following exchange is a very typical example. The I thank an anonymous referee for his/her discussion of this point.The referee also wondered whether any of the ten properties may be reducible to another. Thus, for example, the referee felt that properties [6] and [7] are mirror-images of each other, and should thus be put together. I assume that this can indeed be done. For me, however, the more important point was that the editors I talked to felt these were two separate, although obviously related, principles. As I am interested here in the description of intuitions, rather than in the construction of a theoretical framework, I will discuss the two principles separately. 9 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 709 tory is about a youth gang which was caught red-handed mutilating gravestones in a military cemetery in Haifa. The copy-editor suggested the following headline: (8) Haifa: A youth gang was caught mutilating gravestones in the city’s military cemetery The head of the news-desk ordered the copy-editor to shorten the headline, in the following way: (9) Haifa: A youth gang was caught mutilating gravestones Note that the decision to shorten the headline is not without its price: We have lost a piece of information, i. e. , that the gravestones were mutilated in a military cemetery, which means we have lost some contextual e? ects.We have, however, gained in reading e? ort. The shorter headline is simply easier to read. This is a very clear example of relevance optimization by e? ort reduction. The editor in charge decided that the loss in contextual e? ects is smaller than the gain in reading e? ort. [2] ‘‘Headlines should be clear, easy to understand, and unambiguous’’. Formulating a headline to a complex story is not an easy task. Copy-editors sometimes suggest headlines which come out unclear, di? cult to understand, or unintentionally ambiguous. Such headlines are rejected, and the copy-editor is asked to formulate a clearer, simpler, unambiguous headline.In the following example, the article tells the story of a police drama in the city of Ramat-Gan, where a single arsonist threatened the city for weeks, burning down vehicles every night. On that speci? c night, the police caught a suspect, but had to release him after the ‘real’ arsonist took out to the streets again, burning down more vehicles to prove that he was not caught. The copy-editor suggested the following headline: (10) The ‘real arsonist’ from Ramat-Gan proves: You Haven’t caught me The headline was rejected because it was considered unclear and unnecessarily ambiguous.It raises more questions and vaguenesses than it actually answers: Who is the ‘real arsonist’? Is there an ‘unreal arsonist’? How has the ‘real arsonist’ proven that he wasn’t caught? By whom? The copy-editor was ordered to formulate a clearer headline. This was his second attempt: (11) The arsonist ‘was caught’- and the vehicles in Ramat-Gan went on burning This version is much clearer: It makes clear that a claim was made that the arsonist was caught, which turned out to be false, and it makes clear that, on that day, 710 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 fter the capture incident ended, some vehicles in Ramat-Gan were still burning. There is, however, a potential ambiguity here: The headline can be read as making the claim that the arsonist set the vehicles on ? re before the police made the false claim, and that they went on burning after the incident. The headline was rejected again, and the copy-editor suggested the third version, in (12), which was ? nally accepted and published as it is. Note that the only di? erence between (11), the rejected headline, and (12), the approved one, is in the tense of the verb in the second clause. 12) The arsonist ‘was caught’- and the vehicles in Ramat-Gan go on burning This headline makes it clear that the arsonist is still on the loose, and is still in the habit of setting vehicles on ? re. Finally, the story is captured in a clear, simple and unambiguous fashion. This reduces processing e? ort to the necessary minimum— and optimizes the relevance of the story. [3] ‘‘Headlines should be interesting’’. This quality plays a central role in the negotiations between copy-editors and senior editors. Many suggested headlines are rejected on the grounds that they are ‘not interesting’.What is usuall y meant by this rather obscure phrase is that the editor imagines that the readers of the paper will not ? nd the headline interesting enough. In terms of our relevance-based theory, this means that the editor estimates that the amount of contextual e? ects carried by the headline will not justify the amount of reading e? ort. The copy-editor is then asked to read the article again, and look for a ‘more interesting’ piece of information to foreground to the headline. In the following example, the story includes an interview with Uri Lubrani, IDF’s Chief of Military Operations in Southern Lebanon.General Antoin Lahed, who is mentioned in the rejected headline, is the Commander in Chief of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Christian Militia which has traditionally been IDF’s ally in Lebanon. The context of the story is a wave of rumors, according to which the IDF plans to withdraw from Southern Lebanon, thus leaving General Lahed and his people on their own ag ainst their Islamic rivals: This is the headline which the copy-editor suggested: (13) Lubrani: ‘There was no secret meeting with General Lahed’ Whether or not there was a secret meeting between IDF o? ials and General Lahed on the previous day is hardly an interesting question. After all, IDF o? cials and General Lahed meet on a regular basis, and their meetings are usually kept secret. In our terms, the headline does not carry a substantial amount of contextual e? ects. The headline was rejected, and the copy-editor came up with the following alternative: (14) Lubrani: ‘There is no plan to evacuate SLA seniors to Europe’ Whether or not there is a secret plan to evacuate SLA seniors to Europe is very obviously much more interesting.If there was such a plan, this would be a pretty D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 711 remarkable sign that the IDF is on its way out of Lebanon. Lubrani’s ? at denial can be interpreted in more than one way: We can take him for his word, or assume that he chose to deny the existence of the plan for tactical reasons- at any rate the denial has interesting implications. It is de? nitely more interesting than just another meeting- in our terms, it carries more contextual e? ects for the same amount of processing e? ort. Note that this is a very good example of the signi? ant role of headline writing in the workings of a newspaper. The two headlines, the rejected one and the suggested one, make it quite obvious that the Lubrani interview did not contain any remarkable scoops, and that the editor had to dig in to ? nd something which was worth promoting to the headline. As the senior editor’s decision makes clear, even negative statements, ? at denials of the type that Lubrani suggested as answers to the reporter’s questions, have di? erent amounts of relevance, and the one which was more relevant than the other was promoted. 4] ‘‘Headlines should contain new information’’. A major topic for negotiations between copy-editors and senior-editors has to do with the question of whether the readers already know what the copy-editor decided to promote to the headline. Obviously, editors do not really know what their readers know, but their estimates of their readers’ state of knowledge play a central role in the decision-making process. This makes perfect sense within our relevance-based framework: A headline which does not contain novel assumptions cannot bring about contextual e? ects, and is thus irrelevant.In Ma’ariv, as in any other daily newspaper, estimates of the readers’ state of knowledge are based primarily on what has already been communicated by the other mass-media, especially the evening news on TV. If the content of the proposed headline for the next morning has already appeared in the news the night before, most chances are it will be rejected. The following headline, for example, was rej ected on these grounds: (15) The Austrian Chancellor Arrived for a visit; will meet Netanyahu today The copy-editor had a hard time ? nding an alternative headline. This is what he came up with: (16) O? ials in Jerusalem hope for the Austrian Chancellor’s visit to run smoothly This headline was accepted, for two reasons: First, it carries the implication that o? cials in Jerusalem are worried that the visit might not run smoothly—an angle on the visit which was new. Second, it connects the story to prior events and expectations: The visit of the British foreign minister had just ended the day before, and that visit was full of political hurdles and diplomatic embarrassments. As we shall see below, connecting a story to its wider context is another important property of good headlines. 712 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 5] ‘‘Headlines should not presuppose information unknown to the readers’’. This principle, in a sense , is the mirror-image of the previous one: The information in the headline should de? nitely be new—but it cannot be ‘overly new’. Headlines should only presuppose information which is already part of the mutual knowledge established between the newspaper and its readers. In terms of our relevance-based framework, every presupposition in the headline should already be available within the readers’ context of interpretation. Otherwise, the computation of the headline will result in zero contextual e? cts. Consider, then, the following headline: (17) Advanced negotiations on the establishment of the second Israeli-owned casino in Jericho This headline presupposes the existence, or at least the potential existence, of the ? rst Israeli-owned casino in Jericho. The ? rst news concerning the plans to build this casino, the ? rst one, were published only a few days before the above headline was suggested. According to the editor in chief, the readers had not yet registered the future existence of the ? rst casino in their long-term memory—it was premature to treat it as a presupposition.The copy-editor was asked to change the headline, and came up with the following alternative: (18) The ? rst casino in Jericho will be operational in February In this headline, the establishment of the ? rst casino in Jericho is not presupposed, but reported as part of the news. This is much better. But the editor in chief asked the copy-editor to rephrase the headline again, this time for a di? erent reason: The proposed headline forces the reader to calculate the amount of time it will take till the casino will be operational. This adds to the processing e? ort. The alternative, which was eventually published, reduces this e? rt, thus optimizing the relevance of the story: (19) The ? rst casino in Jericho will be operational in a year [6] ‘‘Headlines should include names and concepts with high ‘news value’ for the readersâ €™â€™. 10 Experienced editors develop a sense of the ‘news value’ of names and 10 This property, and the next one, reminded one anonymous referee of Ariel’s (1988, 1991) accessibility theory (see also Kronrod and Engel 2000). The resemblance, however, is rather super? cial. Ariel is not interested in the speci? c contents of the referring expressions, but in their general cognitive and structural properties.Thus, for example, referring expressions which function as high accessibility markers (e. g. , personal pronouns, ? rst names) are used by speakers when they assume that the referents are highly accessible for their addressees; lower accessibility markers (e. g. , long de? nite descriptions, full names etc. ) are used when the speaker assumes low mental accessibility for their addressees. The point I am making here, however, is not that newspaper editors prefer certain types of referring expression (e. g. , full names) to others (e. g. , last names), but that they prefer certain referents (e. g. , famous ? gures) to others. D.Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 713 concepts: They very easily identify names and concepts which should appear in headlines- and those which do not. In terms of our relevance-based theory, experienced editors know, or at least believe they know, which names and concepts will carry a large number of contextual e? ects for their readers. The following example demonstrates this very clearly. Some background: Two days before the following story was to be published, a story in one of the national newspapers revealed that the popular musicians contracted to perform in Israel’s 50th Jubilee were paid high sums of money- at the ax-payers’ expense. In our story, some other popular musicians reacted to the revelation and angrily declared that they were willing to perform in the Jubilee for free. This was the headline suggested by the copy-editor: (20) A group of artists suggests an alternative for the Jubilee: ‘‘we are willing to perform for free’’ This headline, a classic summarizing headline, was rejected in favor of the following, which replaces the expression ‘a group of artists’ with the names of two celebrity musicians, Shimi Tavori and Margalit Tsan’ani: (21) Shimi Tavori and Margalit Tsan’ani: ‘‘we are willing to perform in the jubilee for free’’Note, ? rst, that the replacement headline in (21) actually loses some of the information we had in (20): The group of artists included many more musicians than just the two mentioned in (21). The point, however, is that the two are the most famous members of the group, and names of well-known popular musicians always carry a lot of contextual e? ects: This is so, because their names direct the readers to construct a much wider context for interpretation, which includes whatever we know about them, their personalities, their views, t heir social background, their wealth, their life styles, and so on. 20) is a headline suited for a regular news story about the 50th Jubilee; (21), on the other hand, is a headline for what is basically a gossip story about Shimi Tavori and Margalit Tsan’ani. [7] ‘‘Headlines should not contain names and concepts with low ‘news value’ for the readers’’. This is the mirror-image of the last property: Some names and concepts do not have ‘‘news value’’ for the readers, and experienced editors avoid promoting them to the headline. In our terms, these names and concepts do not help the reader construct the optimal context for the interpretation of the headline.In the following example, the copy-editor attempted to promote such a name to the headline, and was intercepted by the editor in charge. Some background: The story has to do with an accident in which two military helicopters collided in the air on their way to I srael’s northern border, an accident in which more than 70 soldiers were killed. New immigrants to Israel receive an immigration grant from the Jewish agency, and it turned out that the agency asked the parents of one of the soldiers killed in the accident, a newly-arrived immigrant, to pay back his grant.The copy editor suggested the following headline: 714 D. Dor / Journal of Pragmatics 35 (2003) 695–721 (22) The Michaelov family was ordered to return the immigration grant given to their son- who was killed in the Galilee The editor in charge rejected the headline, and ordered the copy-editor to produce another one, which would not contain the name. This was the alternative headline, which was ? nally published: (23) The Jewish agency refused to let a family, whose son was killed in the helicopter accident, keep his immigration grantNote that the move from the de? nite ‘the Michaelov family’ to the inde? nite ‘a family’ made it di? cult for the copy-editor to keep it in subject position, and dictated an overall grammatical change from passive to active voice. [8] ‘‘Headlines should ‘connect’ the story to previously known facts and events’’. Just like the last two principles, this one has to do with the construction of the appropriate context for interpretation. A story interpreted on its own, as an isolated event, will carry a certain amount of contextual e? ects.The same story can carry more contextual e? ects to the extent that the readers interprets it within a wider context, which includes previously known facts and events. Consider the following example, which is a report on a violent taxi robbery in the city of Haifa: (24) The driver was beaten and thrown out- and the stolen taxi was later found stuck in the mud The editor in charge, who rejected this headline, asked the copy-editor to connect the incident in Haifa to the rising trend of taxi robbery throughout Israel. The f ol